DiDi has designed an EV with Ridesharing at it’s core – the DiDi D1 with BYD

DiDi may not be a huge deal here, but perhaps we should take notice, this is a massive ridesharing business that is honing it’s service, app, and skills in China ready to really take on the world. Their latest attempt is the DiDi D1 electric car – an EV built with BYD and designed with ridesharing in mind.

Think about it, when car designers put pen to paper, they think most about the driver, and almost as much about the front-seat passenger. But those rear seat passengers – an afterthought.

But for rideshare passengers – think of your last Uber ride – you’re sitting in the least desirable spot in the car. And as a passenger you can’t see the map, you don’t know what’s going on and you’ve got to ask to turn the air con up or down.

Jean Liu, president of DiDi talked about the process of improving their service, only to realise one of the biggest factors was in fact the car, saying “During the process of countless product upgrades, we realized that we were not satisfied with the progress we made on improving user experience. Therefore, we decided to focus our efforts on the vehicle itself. As an industry first, DiDi has integrated the needs of hundreds of millions of users into the design of D1 by leveraging our data analytics and user feedback. Our product design team analyzed almost 10 million advice and feedback, alongside survey results from over 10,000 drivers and passengers, as well as tens of workshops. There are many impressive stories to tell.” 

The DiDi D1 was developed in collaboration with BYD – the biggest EV manufacturer in the world (yep, it’s not Nissan, or Tesla, it’s BYD in China).

Ready to roll and starting in the coming month through DiDi leasing partners across major Chinese Cities, if we could travel, we’d likely see these in China during 2021.

Jean Liu went on to say “As an industry first, DiDi has integrated the needs of hundreds of millions of users into the design of D1 by leveraging our data analytics and user feedback. Our product design team analyzed almost 10 million advice and feedback, alongside survey results from over 10,000 drivers and passengers, as well as tens of workshops. There are many impressive stories to tell.”

Taking a look at the car, here’s what I observe. Things like a light built in that allows the car to shine a colour to match passenger making finding your ride easier.

A Tesla Model 3-like centre console screen which doesn’t show the radio, no it’s showing the ride ahead.

Rear comforts like a screen, better placement of cup holders, and perhaps critically, automatic close and open sliding doors for ease of entry all controlled by the driver.

Things no mainstream car selling to families would have, simple as that.

I love the thinking, would love to see one or two in Australia.