Global and China Purpose Built Vehicle (PBV) and Robocar Report, 2022
PBV and Robocar research: new idea of building brick cars, a new car type for future mobility
Building brick cars moves the cheese of traditional OEMs.
Purpose built vehicle (PBV) refers to special purpose vehicles based on small/medium-sized van or multi-box van. PBV suppliers adopt the approach of independent development of upper and lower vehicle bodies, and derive various vehicle types on the same chassis platform, meeting customization needs. Compared with conventional integrated vehicle development, such a development method has unique features below:
? Short development cycle and low cost
PBVs built on the same chassis don’t need repeated development, which shortens the start-of-production and time-to-market of new models. The standardized chassis components can also be reused, reducing manufacturing costs.
For example, the use of "UP Super Board" developed by Shanghai U Power Technology Co., Ltd. cuts down the orignal 2 or 3 years of vehicle R&D cycle to 12 months, and the R&D costs by up to 60%.
? Diversified PBV product forms
The flexible and changeable upper space of PBV allows a variety of product forms. For example, a PBV can be a logistics vehicle, a retail vehicle, a car, a bus, a sanitation vehicle, and so forth.
From the product layout of PBV suppliers, it can be seen that the product forms of PBV are led by three vehicle types: van, pickup and sedan. Wherein, PIX Moving enjoys the broadest range of product forms, involving four fields: passenger car, commercial vehicle, freight vehicle and special vehicle; U Power boasts the most abundant PBV product lineups and deploys five vehicle types, covering three fields: passenger car, commercial vehicle, and freight vehicle; with single PBV product form, Didi has only one product, D1, a customized car for the online ride-hailing mobility scenario. Didi plans to iterate a version every 18 months, to D3 in 2025 when 1 million units will be launched; and to remove the cockpit and realize autonomous driving in 2030.
? Diversified PBV profit models
Through the lens of business models, PBV suppliers often apply the To B model. Among them, PIX Moving, Arrival and Rivian employ both To B and To C models. For instance, PIX Moving starts with Robobus at the business end in a bid for quick commercialization, and will build a complete marketing system after launching consumer products.
As for manufacturing, all suppliers except for Didi have their own production bases. Didi partners with BYD to produce D1 at BYD’s base in Changsha city. In June 2021, Canoo started building a production line in Oklahoma, the US, and ceased the outsourcing contract with VDL Nedcar, opting to build cars by itself.
There are mainly three profit models: vehicle sales, rental, and software subscription & other value-added services. Didi and Arrival apply the rental model, but their rental schemes are different. Didi offers two rental schemes that target Didi drivers: half-year rental, with a monthly rent of RMB4,399; one-year rental, RMB4,299 per month. Arrival, however, aims at third-party lessors such as LeasePlan (in 2021, Arrival and LeasePlan signed a sales cooperation agreement for 3,000 vans). For profits, the supplier Canoo has begun to take into account both the subscription and vehicle sales models.
Is Robocar the ultimate form of PBV products?
The new idea of building brick cars gives birth to diversified vehicle forms, including Robocar, a robot that looks like a vehicle, can move freely and is capable of L4 autonomous driving. The product forms of Robocars are led by Robotaxi and Robobus. At present, Robotaxies built by Baidu, Pony.ai, QCRAFT and the like have begun to run. In the future, Robocars will also be upgraded to L5 autonomy, competent enough to self-learn, make decisions independently, and adapt to a variety of complex scenarios and inclement weather like rain and fog, and they will completely replace humans by then.
Automotive Digital Key Industry Trends Research Report, 2024
Automotive Digital Key Industry Trends Research Report, 2024 released by ResearchInChina highlights the following: Forecast for automotive digital key market;Digital key standard specifications and co...
Automotive XR (VR/AR/MR) Industry Report, 2024
Automotive XR (Extended Reality) is an innovative technology that integrates VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality) and MR (Mixed Reality) technologies into vehicle systems. It can bring drivers...
OEMs’ Next-generation In-vehicle Infotainment (IVI) System Trends Report, 2024
OEMs’ Next-generation In-vehicle Infotainment (IVI) System Trends Report, 2024 released by ResearchInChina systematically analyzes the iteration process of IVI systems of mainstream automakers in Chin...
Global and China Automotive Lighting System Research Report, 2023-2024
Installations of intelligent headlights and interior lighting systems made steady growth.
From 2019 to 2023, the installations of intelligent headlights and interior lighting systems grew steadily. I...
Automotive Display, Center Console and Cluster Industry Report, 2024
Automotive display has become a hotspot major automakers compete for to create personalized and differentiated vehicle models. To improve users' driving experience and meet their needs for human-compu...
Global and China Passenger Car T-Box Market Report, 2024
Global and China Passenger Car T-Box Market Report, 2024 combs and summarizes the overall global and Chinese passenger car T-Box markets and the status quo of independent, centralized, V2X, and 5G T-B...
AI Foundation Models’ Impacts on Vehicle Intelligent Design and Development Research Report, 2024
AI foundation models are booming. The launch of ChapGPT and SORA is shocking. Scientists and entrepreneurs at AI frontier point out that AI foundation models will rebuild all walks of life, especially...
Analysis on Geely's Layout in Electrification, Connectivity, Intelligence and Sharing
Geely, one of the leading automotive groups in China, makes comprehensive layout in electrification, connectivity, intelligence and sharing.
Geely boasts more than ten brands. In 2023, it sold a tota...
48V Low-voltage Power Distribution Network (PDN) Architecture Industry Report, 2024
Automotive low-voltage PDN architecture evolves from 12V to 48V system.
Since 1950, the automotive industry has introduced the 12V system to power lighting, entertainment, electronic control units an...
Automotive Ultrasonic Radar and OEMs’ Parking Route Research Report, 2024
1. Over 220 million ultrasonic radars will be installed in 2028.
In recent years, the installations of ultrasonic radars in passenger cars in China surged, up to 121.955 million units in 2023, jumpin...
Automotive AI Foundation Model Technology and Application Trends Report, 2023-2024
Since 2023 ever more vehicle models have begun to be connected with foundation models, and an increasing number of Tier1s have launched automotive foundation model solutions. Especially Tesla’s big pr...
Qualcomm 8295 Based Cockpit Domain Controller Dismantling Analysis Report
ResearchInChina dismantled 8295-based cockpit domain controller of an electric sedan launched in December 2023, and produced the report SA8295P Series Based Cockpit Domain Controller Analysis and Dism...
Global and China Automotive Comfort System (Seating system, Air Conditioning System) Research Report, 2024
Automotive comfort systems include seating system, air conditioning system, soundproof system and chassis suspension to improve comfort of drivers and passengers. This report highlights seating system...
Automotive Memory Chip and Storage Industry Report, 2024
The global automotive memory chip market was worth USD4.76 billion in 2023, and it is expected to reach USD10.25 billion in 2028 boosted by high-level autonomous driving. The automotive storage market...
Automotive AUTOSAR Platform Research Report, 2024
AUTOSAR Platform research: the pace of spawning the domestic basic software + full-stack chip solutions quickens.
In the trend towards software-defined vehicles, AUTOSAR is evolving towards a more o...
China Passenger Car Electronic Control Suspension Industry Research Report, 2024
Research on Electronic Control Suspension: The assembly volume of Air Suspension increased by 113% year-on-year in 2023, and the magic carpet suspension of independent brands achieved a breakthrough
...
Global and China Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) Research Report, 2023-2024
1. In 2025, the share of plug-in/extended-range hybrid electric passenger cars by sales in China is expected to rise to 40%.
In 2023, China sold 2.754 million plug-in/extended-range hybrid electric p...
L3/L4 Autonomous Driving and Startups Research Report, 2024
The favorable policies for the autonomous driving industry will speed up the commercialization of L3/L4.
In the second half of 2023, China introduced a range of policies concerning autonomous drivin...