Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 630 Global Automakers Gather for…

In July, the global high-tech and automotive industries were stirred up by Apple's official announcement of its entry into the smart electric vehicle industry.

Meanwhile, many car manufacturers' bosses have been flocking to Shenzhen to meet with Xu Shenxue, trying to secure and solidify their share of solid-state battery supply for next year.

This has once again sparked a huge discussion about the smart electric vehicle industry on a large scale around the world!
Although the intelligent electric vehicle industry is not actually a new industry... many years ago, Hailan Motors released the first intelligent electric vehicle in human history: Hailan SEC!

When this electric sports sedan with L2+ level assisted driving was first launched, it caused a huge sensation around the world. Because of its cutting-edge technology, its cool futuristic style in appearance and interior, it attracted a lot of second-generation rich kids and professionals in the high-tech industry as soon as it was launched.

This sports car, positioned as a high-tech toy, managed to achieve global annual sales of two to three hundred thousand units in its first year... although this sales figure was short-lived and quickly plummeted.

However, this car still completely opened up the global market for intelligent electric vehicles, letting people know what intelligent electric vehicles are.

Subsequently, Hailan Auto Group successively released models such as the Hailan SEV large SUV, Hailan SLC large luxury sedan, Hailan SLMC mid-size sedan, Hailan MEV mid-size SUV, and Hailan SR supercar, forcibly creating a top-tier high-end luxury intelligent electric vehicle brand.

Then they launched the entry-level Hailan YEV mid-size sedan and Hailan HEV mid-size SUV... Through these two entry-level models priced above 150,000 yuan with an actual average selling price of around 300,000 yuan, sales exploded!
Today, Hailan Auto's annual production and sales volume is approaching 3.5 million units.

The development of Hailan Motors, to some extent, reflects the main development path of intelligent electric vehicles in the world.

In addition to Hailan Auto, there are other smart electric vehicle manufacturers in the world... It is worth noting that, thanks to EYEQ's comprehensive driver assistance solution under the Zhiyun Group, most of the slightly more expensive electric vehicles in the world come with L2+ level driver assistance functions.

Leaving aside other markets, in the current domestic electric vehicle market, almost all new energy vehicles priced over 150,000 yuan are equipped with L2+ level assisted driving, and some models priced at 120,000 to 130,000 yuan also have it...

Zhuyun Group's EYEQ solution is open to global sales and is not expensive.

Thanks to Hailan Auto and other car manufacturers, people are already quite familiar with smart electric vehicles.

But... the situation is different now.
In the past, it was mostly so-called emerging manufacturers or traditional car manufacturers that were playing this game. But in the last two years, high-tech companies from other industries have entered the smart electric vehicle industry.

The most typical example is Vcool Electronics Group's foray into electric vehicles!

Besides Vcool Electronics Group, two other domestic companies, Huawei and Dami, are also developing smart electric vehicles.

Now, Apple in the United States has also officially announced its entry into the smart electric vehicle industry. Moreover, before the official announcement, they had already built a prototype. Now they are continuing research and development and testing while also carrying out publicity and promotion in preparation for the global launch and market launch next year.

In addition, Hailan Auto has developed a groundbreaking solid-state battery, and in addition to large-scale self-use, it plans to supply solid-state battery production capacity to the world on a large scale next year.

Taking all these factors into account, even ordinary people can see from various news reports that the automotive market is undergoing a dramatic change!

In such dramatic changes, naturally some people are happy while others are sad!

Xu Shenxue paid little attention to the outside disturbances. Recently, he has been frequently contacting the CEOs of major car manufacturers to promote the popularization of intelligent electric vehicles worldwide as much as possible.

And he was even planning to add another fire!

------

In late July, the EYEQ project team under Zhiyun Group quietly contacted many car manufacturer clients, saying that they would release the new generation EYEQ7 solution and claim that the solution has L3 level assisted driving level!
The new solution uses a new generation of five-nanometer PX8 chip as its core chip. It adopts a hybrid recognition scheme that combines LiDAR and pure vision. Driven by the core EYEQ7 algorithm, it can meet the requirements of L3 level assisted driving functions.

Furthermore, a Level 3 challenge test will be conducted in three days, and customers and manufacturers will be invited to come and observe.

This news has attracted great attention from many car manufacturers.

On the day of the test, more than two hundred invited executives and core technical personnel from various car manufacturers were present.

The reason so many car manufacturers came to watch is because... Zhuyun Group's EYEQ solution is currently the world's largest and only third-party solution that can seamlessly provide L2+ level assisted driving solutions to external parties.

This is also the driver assistance solution used by many car manufacturers present.

There are better ones, for example, Hailan Auto's autonomous driving technology is several levels higher, but they don't supply it to the public!
Tesla's self-developed Level 2+ assisted driving system is actually quite good, but they don't sell it...

The other third-party suppliers are not doing very well; their performance is only at the average L2 level.

Today, most cars worldwide are equipped with driver assistance technologies, and some manufacturers even boast that their driver assistance technologies are self-developed... but nine out of ten are actually EYEQ solutions provided by Zhiyun Group.

Just like with Vcool Electronics Group, their Bluegogo 2020's assisted driving technology is also touted as self-developed, but in reality it's still based on the EYEQ6 solution, albeit a heavily customized version...

The EYEQ6 solution from Zhiyun Group can provide L2+ level assisted driving and can be deeply customized according to customer requirements.

Now, the EYEQ project team of Zhiyun Group is about to release the next-generation EYEQ7 technical solution, which is naturally attracting great attention from major automakers.

Among the automotive customer representatives present were Bluegogo, a subsidiary of Vcool Electronics Group, and Dami Auto, which officially announced its entry into the electric vehicle industry and is expected to launch a new car next year.

Then Fruit Cars, which had just finalized a deal with Xu Shenxue for solid-state battery supply, originally planned to use its own optimized and improved algorithms to achieve L2+ assisted driving technology. However, upon hearing that Zhiyun Group had released L3-level assisted driving technology, they also rushed over.

Then Tesla's people came over too.

A host of traditional and emerging domestic automakers, such as BYD, Geely, GAC, SAIC, BAIC, etc.

Overseas car manufacturers are no exception, such as Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, etc. Even GM and Ford, with whom Xu Shenxue has a less-than-ideal relationship, sent people to come and take a look!
Because they are all customers of the EYEQ solution...

A very obscure fact that ordinary consumers wouldn't pay attention to: Globally, eight out of ten gasoline-powered vehicles with driver assistance features use the EYEQ system...

Disassemble the car, locate the circuit board that provides driver assistance, and you'll see the large 'YUN' logo on the EYEQ chip soldered on it... This large 'YUN' logo is a typical symbol of various chips under the Zhiyun Group.

From CPUs to GPUs, memory chips, computing chips, etc., basically all chips from the Zhiyun brand will have the word 'YUN' on them.

The above refers to gasoline-powered cars... Don't assume that gasoline-powered cars don't have driver assistance features. In fact, slightly higher-end models have basic driver assistance functions, such as lane keeping assist and cruise control. They generally use the EYEQ3 or EYEQ4 system to implement these driver assistance functions...

In the electric vehicle sector, because neither Hailan Auto nor Tesla uses the EYEQ solution, the market share of the EYEQ solution is not that high. However... apart from these two companies, the driver assistance technologies used by other smart electric vehicles on the market are basically all based on the EYEQ5 or EYEQ6 solution, with the only difference being the level of customization.

There are reasons why the EYEQ solution has such a high market share, almost monopolizing the global mid-to-low-end driver assistance market.

The main problem is that many traditional automakers are technologically weak in the field of driver assistance systems, making it very difficult for them to develop advanced driver assistance technologies on their own... It's too much of a leap into a completely different industry.

These days, the companies that can develop driver assistance solutions are actually those that are quite advanced in the field of artificial intelligence... because behind this technology is actually big data models... or, to put it in more sophisticated terms, artificial intelligence.

Without advanced artificial intelligence technology, it cannot be developed.

Asking traditional automakers to develop artificial intelligence... that's asking too much of them.

Zhiyunji's EYEQ solution is mature, offers various optimizations and customizations, and is reasonably priced, especially the low-end EYEQ4 solution, which is very inexpensive!

Furthermore, this technology doesn't pose a bottleneck, which greatly suppresses the market motivation for other companies to develop low-end assisted driving technologies.

It's a waste of a lot of money to develop something that's not only technically inferior to the EYEQ solution, but it's also ridiculously expensive. It's not worth it!
Of course, some ambitious high-tech companies will still insist on doing it themselves, such as Tesla, Apple, and even rice and Huawei, which insist on developing their own driver assistance technology.

The current EYEQ solution has a very high penetration rate, and its high performance directly affects the level of driver assistance of many car manufacturers. Therefore, when Zhiyun Group launched the L3 level EYEQ solution, all these car manufacturers came to see it.

If today's test is successful, it means that in the near future, they will also be able to 'self-develop' a smart electric vehicle with L3 level assisted driving technology... and then with the solid-state battery next year, wouldn't they be able to create a top-notch smart electric vehicle comparable to Hailan Auto?
Just thinking about this scene makes my mouth water!

As for Hailan Auto's L4 level autonomous driving... cough cough, let's not compare that yet, L4 level autonomous driving is too abnormal.

However... while Hailan Auto's Level 4 autonomous driving technology is excellent, it's expensive!
Currently, the only model under the Hailan Auto brand equipped with L4 level autonomous driving technology is the Hailan SLMC high-end model, priced at 480,000 yuan...

Such a price inevitably means that the market penetration rate of Level 4 autonomous driving is actually very low.

The competition faced by other automakers is actually the L3-level assisted driving models under Hailan Auto... This technology is widely used in models priced from 250,000 to around 500,000 yuan.

At this time, Zhiyun Group came up with the EYEQ7 solution that meets L3 level assisted driving requirements, so it's no wonder that many car manufacturers, and even people from Tesla and Apple Cars, came to it.

On July 28, hundreds of representatives from different car manufacturers gathered at an intelligent driving technology test site on the outskirts of a city in China, with several prototype vehicles ready for actual testing in front of them.

Although none of these test vehicles had brand logos, their appearance clearly indicated that they were some of the most popular models on the market in the past year. These included the Bluegogo 2020, several BYD models, and one Tesla vehicle.

Zhuyun Group does not conduct complete vehicle R&D itself, but only develops the EYEQ assisted driving solution. In the past, when conducting R&D and testing, it used Hailan Auto's models for testing. Later, it used Xiaolan Auto under Weiku Electronics Group and BYD's models for testing.

Xiaolan Auto is a sister company, while BYD is a major customer for the EUEQ solution's advanced intelligent driver assistance system, and Tesla was a former major customer!
The EYEQ solution from Zhiyun Group is actually divided into many levels. There is a basic L2 version and a high-level version for gasoline vehicles; there is an L2 version for low-end electric vehicles; and finally, there is an L2+ version for mid-to-high-end electric vehicles.

Each automaker can choose based on its own model's market positioning and cost budget!

Previously, Tesla was a major customer for L2+ level equipment, but they stopped purchasing from them and started using their own L2+ technology instead... This caused the EYEQ business unit to lose a relatively important major customer!
The reason we're using Tesla vehicles for testing today is simple: we want to win back this major customer...

Meanwhile, an executive vice president of the EYEQ project team at Zhiyun Group was introducing the EYEQ7 solution to the manufacturers, boasting that it used a five-nanometer PX chip that had not yet been officially released, top-tech LiDAR and automotive-grade high-definition cameras, as well as a whole bunch of other sensors and auxiliary chips that sounded very expensive.

Finally, they boasted that the new generation EYEQ7 algorithm used a massive computing array for training.

Claims that the entire EYEQ7 solution development cost over five billion US dollars are basically just boasting!

If any insiders at Zhiyun Group heard this number, they would know that the executive vice president was exaggerating...

Although the EYEQ project team seems very important in the automotive industry, it is a peripheral business within the Zhuyun Group and has not received much attention from the group's senior management for a long time, so it is impossible for it to receive such a large investment.

After all, among Xu Shenxue's many businesses, Hailan Auto is the core enterprise for developing autonomous driving...

When Zhiyun Group and Hailan Auto entered into a strategic partnership, Zhiyun Group offered to sell its autonomous driving technology business segment to Hailan Auto. However, Hailan Auto found the EYEQ business to be too subpar, and Zhiyun Group's management also demanded a high price, so they ultimately did not accept the EYEQ business.

That's why Zhuyun Group kept the EYEQ business group!
Later, as the EYEQ business continued to develop, it gradually gained a greater influence on the automotive industry, and its revenue and profits continued to increase, becoming an essential subsystem for many automotive companies developing intelligent electric vehicles... However, within the Zhiyun Group, the EYEQ business is still considered a peripheral business.

With annual revenue of only a few billion US dollars, gross profit margins are not high, market space is limited, and future growth potential is limited. Moreover, the assisted driving technology they have developed is actually just average and cannot compare with their competitor, Hailan Auto.

This kind of business, which is second-rate and far behind first-rate technology, is unlikely to receive much attention in a behemoth like Zhiyun Group.

The top executives of Zhiyun Group are focused on top-tier businesses with potential market sizes of hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars, starting at hundreds of billions of dollars. They are involved in high-tech or even cutting-edge businesses such as robots, virtual worlds, computing chips, and top-tier semiconductor manufacturing. They have no interest in small businesses like EYEQ assisted driving, which has a revenue of several billion dollars.

In other words, Xu Shenxue has been trying to leverage the advent of solid-state batteries to fully promote the intelligent electric vehicle industry and become the "father" of the global automotive industry in the past two years. That's why he increased the investment in the EYEQ project team and ultimately developed this L3 level assisted driving system.

Zhuyun Group launched the L3-level EYEQ7 with a simple objective: to promote the rapid development of the global intelligent electric vehicle market!
Xu Shenxue has gone to great lengths to promote the development of intelligent electric vehicles globally...

Other manufacturers can't get their hands on batteries, but he's not only supplying semi-solid-state batteries openly, but now he's even supplying solid-state batteries... These are solid-state batteries, with an energy density of 700 watt-hours per kilogram, and they won't catch fire or burn. Everyone who sees them will be drooling!

Since other manufacturers couldn't master driver assistance technology, Xu Shenxue offered L3-level driver assistance technology to the outside world!
Now that you have L3 assisted driving and solid-state batteries, you can confidently and boldly promote the global popularization of intelligent electric vehicles!

Of course, many people also know that the reason why Xu Shenxue was so generous and willing to sell off solid-state batteries and L3-level assisted driving was that he wanted to become a core upstream supplier in the global automotive industry... and a supplier with a very high cost ratio, a monopoly on core technologies, and even the ability to hold others hostage.

We've seen this kind of operation before: a whole bunch of big data model algorithms are made free and open source, and others are allowed to optimize and use them commercially. They also created a complete set of YUDA development software that everyone can use for free... The purpose is very simple: to sell various computing chips!
Now Xu Shenxue plans to do the same thing in the automotive industry!
With one hand holding driver assistance technology and the other holding the power battery... these two things alone can account for more than 60% of the cost of a mid-to-low-end smart electric vehicle!

Otherwise, Xu Shenxue wouldn't be promoting smart electric vehicles so diligently!
After the EYEQ project manager finished his explanation on stage, it was time for the on-site testing... This was also what the many car manufacturers' representatives present were most concerned about.

Whether it's truly L3 assisted driving technology or not, it's not enough to just boast about it on stage; it needs to be tested in real-world conditions.

Currently in China, there is the intelligent driving technology testing standard promoted by Hailan Auto, which has strict requirements for all aspects of the technical standards... This standard is also the only official standard in China.

When advertising car sales, vehicles must first pass the corresponding intelligent driving technology test before they can use the appropriate level of advertising.

For example, the term 'autonomous driving' must first pass Level 4 technical testing before it can be used in advertising.

The term "intelligent driving" can only be used after passing Level 3 technical testing.

Level 2 technology can only be described using the term 'assisted driving'.

To avoid misleading consumers!
Otherwise, if a car with only Level 2 autonomous driving capabilities is also advertised as having intelligent driving capabilities, it will lead to misjudgment by the driver, causing them to over-trust or rely on the driver assistance system, which could easily result in a fatal accident.

Meanwhile, the testing standards developed by Hailan Auto are not only used domestically, but have also been adopted in some overseas countries...

Generally speaking, the technical standards of an industry are often set by the top giants in that industry... The field of intelligent driving is no exception.

Hailan Auto is a standard setter!
The EYEQ project team at Zhiyun Group is now developing the EYEQ7 technical solution, which aims to challenge the L3 level testing.

The entire test highly simulates complex real-world road conditions, requiring the intelligent driving system to make accurate judgments and drive, while also simulating the emergency response capabilities of the driving system in the event of unexpected accidents.

For example, a very typical "ghost peek" occurs when a vehicle or person suddenly appears from the side that is blocking the driver's view while the vehicle is in normal driving conditions, requiring the vehicle to brake suddenly or avoid them.

In addition, vehicles are required to accurately identify various moving or stationary objects... For example, they must be able to accurately identify and make judgments when there are obstacles on the road ahead.

There are many testing requirements, totaling more than twenty.

If all of these can be achieved, then it meets the technical standards for Level 3, and in practical applications, it can already meet the needs of assisted driving in daily road conditions.

The higher level of L4 autonomous driving has more complex and numerous technical standards, with more than a hundred different tests, including more than twenty extremely difficult ones that even experienced drivers might not be able to pass!
The current L4 level technology standards are too high, so high that other car manufacturers would despair if they even glanced at the list of technology standards.

Currently, only the L4 autonomous driving technology under the Hailan Automotive Group can pass this test... In fact, to put it bluntly, this set of official L4 level technical standards was formulated based on the performance indicators of Hailan Automotive's L4 level autonomous driving technology...

Level 4 autonomous driving technology is too far-fetched for the manufacturers present, and they don't even dare to hope for it. They are just hoping that the EYEQ7 solution from Zhiyun Group can provide Level 3 technology.

Once you reach Level 3 proficiency, there's a lot more you can do there.

Soon, under the watchful eyes of numerous car manufacturers, the test officially began!
As the test progressed, the expressions of the many manufacturers' representatives on site became increasingly serious... Especially after the test vehicle passed the extremely rigorous 'high-speed ghost peek test in heavy rain,' even the person in charge of Fruit Cars on site couldn't help but stand up!

Their self-developed driver assistance technology couldn't pass this simulated high-speed "ghost pedestrian" test during a rainstorm...

Heavy rain makes it difficult for lidar to collect signals, and the efficiency of the collected information drops by more than 50%. At the same time, heavy rain obstructs the view and makes it difficult for cameras to capture clear images.

The limited information collected by the hardware places extremely demanding requirements on the algorithm, requiring it to make correct judgments based on limited and ambiguous information... which is not easy.

Tesla's self-developed driver assistance technology is beyond the capabilities of Apple Auto's driver assistance system, not to mention other self-developed driver assistance technologies, which may not even pass the standard "ghost pedestrian" test.

Next, we tested more complex projects.

Of the 26 standard tests, only the L3-level assisted driving technology under Hailan Auto could pass all of them in the past. Now, the EYEQ7 solution has passed 23 of them.

Finally, even the last three tests were successfully passed!
After multiple test vehicles equipped with the EYEQ7 solution passed twenty-six tests, representatives from many car manufacturers at the scene were already quite impatient.

Some impatient people even went directly to Zhiyun Group to ask: How much does this system cost? When can it be delivered!
They can't wait to equip their high-end models with this system!

Previously, we could only watch helplessly as Hailan Auto monopolized the high-end intelligent electric vehicle market, unable to even get a share. Moreover, Hailan Auto was also trying to penetrate the lower-end market, creating the Hailan YEV and Hailan HEV, two models with an average price of 300,000 yuan... This greatly impacted the sales of high-end models from various manufacturers.

Of course, Hailan Auto is a high-end luxury car brand, with entry-level models starting at over 250,000 yuan and average prices around 300,000 yuan. Such prices do not actually affect the core market of most car manufacturers: the price range of 100,000 to 200,000 yuan!
However, Hailan Automotive Group has also created a sub-brand called Aila, which mainly targets the price range of 100,000 to 200,000 yuan. Although the models of this sub-brand are not yet equipped with L3-level assisted driving, there are rumors in the industry that Aila Automotive may launch configurations with L3-level assisted driving and solid-state batteries in some high-end models next year.

The 200,000 RMB Ella car, equipped with L3-level assisted driving technology and solid-state batteries, has had a huge impact on many car manufacturers' mid-to-high-end models.

This has created a pressing sense of crisis for many car manufacturers, which is the main reason why many overseas car manufacturers are using various resources to restrict ERA cars from entering their respective national markets.

ELA Automotive's impact on these large automotive groups is far greater than that of Hailan Automotive.

Moreover, in the special industry of automobiles, there is no such thing as normal business competition. If you can't win in direct competition, you will resort to off-market means... Imposing tariffs, anti-invasion measures and other means are all commonplace.

But if they have this L3 assisted driving system, plus solid-state batteries... who dares to say they can't make mid-to-high-end smart electric vehicles?

"We can do it too!"

They can even shamelessly claim that their self-developed technology is incredibly advanced when they hire Zhiyun Group for paid optimization and customization!

(End of this chapter)