Lyft 正押注豪华出行服务，以吸引高管和其他 VIP 客户，以此拓展其核心业务之外的市场。该网约车公司正在建立一个名为 Alcove 的新代驾品牌，专门满足客户会议、会议和航班之间全天高管出行的需求，首席执行官 David Risher 在接受采访时表示。“高管出行、企业出行、活动方面存在巨大机遇，”Risher 说。
Lyft is betting on luxury rides for C-suite leaders and other VIPs as it looks to expand beyond its core business. The ride-hailing company is establishing a new chauffeuring brand, dubbed Alcove, that caters to demand for full days of executive travel between client meetings, conferences and flights, Chief Executive David Risher said in an interview.“There is an enormous opportunity in executive travel, corporate travel, events,” Risher.
“目前，这一需求尚未得到很好的满足。”Alcove 的设计旨在提供比 Lyft 现有高端出行服务更高水平的服务。例如，如果乘客在前往会议途中将咖啡洒在衬衫上，Alcove 司机会为其更换衬衫，并提前致电通知其同事他们将迟到的原因，Risher 说。该新服务将整合并扩大 TBR Global Chauffeuring，这是 Lyft 去年以 1.1 亿美元收购的总部位于格拉斯哥的豪华代驾服务提供商。
“Right now, it’s just not very well served.”Alcove is designed to offer executives a higher level of service than Lyft’s existing premium ride offerings. If a rider spills coffee on their shirt on the way to a meeting for instance, an Alcove driver would replace it and call ahead to inform the rider’s colleagues why they’ll be late, Risher said. The new service will fold in and expand TBR Global Chauffeuring, the Glasgow-headquartered luxury chauffeur provider Lyft acquired last year for $110 million.
TBR 在截至 6 月的期间录得其有史以来最强劲的季度业绩，拥有全球业务布局和 24 小时服务中心。然而，该品牌在美国知名度不高，而美国将是其扩张的关键地区。Risher 预计 Alcove 将于明年早些时候上线，并最终发展成为一个价值数十亿美元的业务。Lyft 去年的总预订额约为 185 亿美元。Risher 表示，Alcove 正进入一个有望被颠覆的市场。
TBR, which recorded its strongest quarter to date in the period ending in June, brings a global presence and 24-hour service center. However, it isn’t well known in the U.S., which will be a key region for expansion. Risher expects Alcove, which is set to launch early next year, to eventually become a multi-billion dollar business. Lyft brought in about $18.5 billion in gross bookings last year. Alcove is entering a market that’s ripe for upheaval, Risher said.
寻求预订此类高端出行服务的行政助理往往依赖于一系列规模有限的小型代驾企业。“这些服务确实存在，但市场较为分散，技术较旧，通常也没有真正的规模优势，”Risher 说。他还指出，这是一个庞大的市场，每家财富 500 强公司都有需要此类服务的员工。他还认为，Alcove 有机会满足现场娱乐领域不断增长的需求，帮助高管以及名人前往从超级碗到美国各地的活动。
Executive assistants looking to book such high-end rides tend to work with a network of small chauffeuring businesses that have limited footprints.“These services exist out there, but it’s kind of a fragmented market with older technology and typically no real scale advantage,” Risher said. It’s also a big market, according to Risher, who said every Fortune 500 company has employees that need this kind of service. He also sees opportunity for Alcove to meet growing demand in live entertainment, helping executives as well as celebrities get everywhere from the Super Bowl or the U.S. Open to concerts.
开放参加音乐会。Lyft的竞争对手Uber Technologies也一直专注于近期扩大其企业旅行业务。今年早些时候，Uber同意收购在60多个国家的500多个城市运营的司机服务公司Blacklane，收购金额未披露。Lyft的TBR业务覆盖120个国家的3000多个城市。进军高端企业旅行业务正值Uber和Lyft面临投资者对自动驾驶汽车兴起是否会颠覆其业务的担忧。
Lyft’s rival Uber Technologies has also been focused on growing its corporate travel offerings lately. Earlier this year Uber agreed to acquire Blacklane, a chauffeur service that operates in more than 500 cities across over 60 countries, for an undisclosed amount. Lyft’s TBR offers its services in more than 3,000 cities across 120 countries. The push into high-end corporate travel comes as Uber and Lyft contend with investor worries about whether the rise of autonomous vehicles will upend their businesses.
两家公司均与多家合作伙伴合作，在其平台上提供机器人出租车服务，并表示有信心通过结合自动驾驶汽车和人工驾驶的混合网络实现长期成功。然而，Alcove可能在一个较少具备颠覆条件的市场中运营。Risher预计其目标受众会更倾向于人工驾驶而非自动驾驶汽车，尽管他承认个人偏好可能有所不同。“我认为这是一种使用场景和人群类型，他们会欣赏有人下车并以名字问候他们，”他说。
Both have partnered with a range of players to provide robotaxi services on their platforms, and have expressed confidence that they can succeed in the long term with a hybrid network of both AVs and human drivers. Alcove, though, may operate in a market that’s less primed for disruption. Risher expects its target audience to prefer human drivers to AVs, though he acknowledges that individual tastes can vary.“I think this is a use case and a type of person where they’re going to appreciate someone getting out of the car and greeting them by name,” he said.
“自动驾驶汽车很了不起，但它们做不到这一点。”请将稿件发送至Kelly Cloonan的邮箱：kelly.cloonan@wsj.com。
“AVs are marvelous, but they’re not that.”Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com