The new species of express delivery has arrived! Uber cars also deliver express delivery

On June 10th, Uber, the world's largest mobile car company, announced the end of the testing period for the interface (API) developed by UberRush (a third-party express delivery service), which will be open to all companies.

In relevant mobile software, service providers can directly integrate Uber's express delivery services, and Uber drivers can not only "pull people" but also "deliver goods". On September 25th last year, Didi executives interviewed executives from Modern Logistics Daily (WeChat: cn156news) and stated that they would not rule out entering markets such as express delivery and logistics in the future.

How does Uber Rush play crowdsourced delivery?

Uber's Crowdsourced Express Service: In April 2014, Uber officially launched Uber Rush, a crowdsourced express service that provides delivery services by manpower or bicycles in the Manhattan area of New York. Uber Rush typically arrives within an hour and costs between $1530 depending on distance.

Simply put, if you are within the five areas designated by Uber, you can call for express delivery just like using Uber to call a car. Uber's driver - here called Messenger - will come to pick up the package and deliver it to the location you specified.

Unlike Uber's previous services, Messenger is not a driver, they may ride bicycles or walk. Users can see the estimated arrival time of Messenger pickup on Uber, and can also check the location of their items at any time. As of October 2015, the service has covered three cities: New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

How consumers use Uber to send packages: The specific usage method is like calling a car - open the Uber software, select UberRush, locate or mark a pickup location for yourself, Uber tells you how long the "messenger" will come to pick up the package, and then you can see the movement of the item on the Uber software.

However, Uber pointed out that due to the fact that the "messenger" may be walking or riding a bicycle, the estimated arrival time may not be very accurate; If the messenger takes the subway without a signal, it will also affect the estimated time of arrival or tracking the location of the item.

Uber Rush delivers express delivery and takeout, and also

Uber Logistics New Expansion: On January 29, 2016, in order to further expand this service, Uber opened the UberRUSH API to third-party merchants. This means that express delivery services are moving towards standardization, and external companies, especially service providers with apps, only need to use this interface to directly purchase Uber's express delivery services, achieving the goal of fast delivery of items and goods.

In this way, other retailers or external logistics companies only need to add a few lines of code in their own products to directly use UberRUSH's express delivery service.

At present, there are many merchant apps that integrate Uber's express delivery services, such as the pizza delivery service software Pythagoras, the door-to-door dry cleaning service tool Dryv, the delivery service Ando and Mealmade, as well as the unmanned aerial vehicle rental service provider Up Sponder.

Uber's ambition is to compete with Google and others: Uber's move highlights its ambition, as it not only aims to dominate the field of people's travel, but also wants to establish a foothold in the express delivery industry.

Many retailers in the United States use third-party courier services, such as Amazon and Google's courier services, and now Uber has also joined the competition in this market.

Dare to compete with express delivery giants such as FedEx for food

Competing for Food from FedEx: According to Uber's CEO, Uber hopes to build a "city logistics network" plan in the urban areas covered by UberRush and ordering service UberEats. Meanwhile, Uber stated that this plan aims to recruit a team of over 200000 drivers to participate in urban parcel delivery services.

In this way, Uber can indeed snatch some orders from FedEx. But UberRush offers a courier service that uses smartphones as a communication medium, which is small, fast, and same day delivery. And this is only a small part of FedEx's business.

Uber express drivers travel from location A in the same city to location B, and their service range is limited to a smaller geographical area. They are more suitable for delivering items such as flowers, Starbucks, takeout, or a book from Amazon, making it difficult to threaten FedEx, which has a huge logistics center and fast center radiating logistics network.

Indeed, UberRush's disruption is unlikely to force traditional logistics giants to death or cause any substantial impact in the short term, but its express delivery services are undoubtedly disruptive.

Compared to domestic express delivery: Currently, the development foundation of traditional express delivery in China is relatively stable, with relatively strong momentum from SF Express and Tongda series. Since the rise of the sharing economy globally, crowdsourcing logistics services such as Uber express delivery have already emerged.

As far as JD.com is concerned, crowdsourcing and a strong backend are insurmountable obstacles for Uber's expansion of its express delivery business. Although Uber's concept of exploring a wider range of service models and business sectors through sharing economy models such as private cars is in line with the development of the times, based on the current development situation of the express delivery industry, it is still necessary to fully utilize its own advantages, make effective solutions to the problems arising from new businesses, break through bottlenecks, and leverage the express delivery market.

Didi PR Director Ye Yun: Logistics will be involved in the future

On September 25, 2015, in an interview with Modern Logistics Daily, Didi's PR Director Ye Yunshi told our reporter, "It's difficult for us to set limits on ourselves. From the current perspective, we hope to comprehensively cover various scenarios and needs encountered in the field of transportation. In the future, we cannot rule out the involvement of logistics, express delivery, and even more services."