Linh Le | 2026 SEAI Travel Grant Update

Fieldnotes from Hanoi: Waiting, work and everyday life with XanhSM drivers

Linh Le | 2026 SEAI Travel Grant Recipient

Over June and July 2026, Linh conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Hanoi with drivers for XanhSM, Vietnam’s electric ride-hailing fleet, based largely around Vinhomes Ocean Park, the 420-hectare development on the city’s eastern edge. She spoke with around 70 drivers—in their cars, at charging stations and during the long waiting hours between bookings, and spent a full working day with one driver, beginning with his 4:30am coffee and following his shift until he signed off.

A key part of the fieldwork was understanding how drivers experience time and work. Drivers must reach a fixed revenue target before their base pay is unlocked, while a significant part of their day can be spent waiting for a battery or a booking. They respond by starting before dawn, taking night shifts and learning which hours are most worthwhile. The agency is real and it is exercised almost entirely inside the terms set for them; grievance travels sideways, driver to driver, rather than upward. Đi làm cho người ta thì chịu thôi—you work for other people, so you put up with it.

The fieldwork also highlighted the contrast between infrastructure provided for the vehicle and that available to the driver. While charging points, servicing and battery management are readily available, basic facilities such as toilets, canteens and shade are not. Drivers therefore develop their own informal map of Hanoi—knowing which coffee shops allow them to sit, which petrol stations have usable toilets, and where they can find an affordable meal. Much of this everyday infrastructure remains around the edges of the new development itself.

Other moments from the field—from spending two hours at a charging station listening to drivers compare fares, to observing how they navigate Hanoi’s narrow ngõ and ngách—provided insights that could only really emerge through sustained engagement on the ground.

Grant attribution

Linh Le is a recipient of the 2026 ANU Southeast Asia Institute Travel Grant. Her fieldwork in Hanoi was supported by the ANU Southeast Asia Institute.

You can download the PDF attachment to view the full fieldwork reflection.