Huayu 2021: Isn’t he in the technology field?

Chapter 345 Turbulence Begins, Setting the Stage

In the late July afternoon in Beijing, the air was as muggy as stagnant glue.

When Jiang Qing returned to Luyang, the glaring sunlight outside the French windows was scorching the earth, making people feel uneasy from the heat.

He went straight to the company, checked on the progress of several key projects, and then went to the large model team to see the latest test results before returning home.

For the next ten days or so, except for one visit to the set of "Changfengdu" to see Xiaotian, he arrived at the company on time every day.

With the crucial timeframe fast approaching, he had to ensure everything went perfectly.

July 22nd, an ordinary workday morning.

Jiang Qing had just finished a brief morning meeting when Chen Duo hurriedly pushed open the door, carrying a tablet and looking serious.

"Boss, something's happened. Lin Zhiying was in a serious car accident while driving his Tesla, and the car burned."

On the tablet screen, there was a news push that had just topped the trending searches, accompanied by a short video taken by a pedestrian's dashcam.

After making a slow U-turn, a white Tesla Model X, as if pulled by an invisible hand, crashed straight into the median strip without any sign of slowing down or turning.

The impact wasn't particularly violent at the moment of impact, but immediately afterward, thick smoke billowed from the bottom of the vehicle, and within seconds the fire spread rapidly, engulfing the entire front of the car.

Fortunately, a few workers who happened to be passing by risked breaking the window and managed to pull the unconscious Lin Zhiying and his son out.

The press release described horrific injuries: facial fractures, a comminuted fracture of the arm, a concussion...

Jiang Qing stared at the short but thrilling video, her brows furrowed.

He repeatedly dragged the progress bar, his eyes fixed on the few frames where the vehicle lost control and crashed into the guardrail.

"The speed is not fast, and the trajectory is unusually straight..."

He muttered to himself, his fingertips tracing the fatal trajectory line across the cold screen.

"No brake lights came on, and there was no obvious evasive action. What about Autopilot? Lane keeping assist? Collision warning?"

His voice was filled with speechlessness.

Below the press release, Tesla's brief official response stood out starkly.

"The vehicle body did not use flammable materials... The specific cause of the fire is still under investigation."

"No flammable materials were used?"

A young engineer nearby couldn't help but mutter a complaint under his breath.

"What burned for three hours? How much does the burning of the battery pack have to do with whether the car body is made of flammable materials?"

Jiang Qing ignored these comments.

He silently reviewed all the available photos from the scene, as well as the initial reports.

Lin Zhiying is not an ordinary driver; he is a professional racer with extensive track experience.

Such a person, on an ordinary city road with good visibility and slow speed, crashed in such a bizarre way, and the vehicle caught fire so quickly...

This cannot be simply dismissed with a "the cause is still under investigation" statement.

He put down the tablet, and the screen automatically dimmed.

Just then, his personal cell phone in his pocket vibrated rapidly, and two words appeared on the screen—Lei Jun.

Jiang Qing swiped to answer the call, but before he could speak, Lei Jun's urgent voice came through.

"General Jiang! Have you seen the news?!"

"Just finished watching it."

Jiang Qing's voice was very steady.

"What do you think?"

Lei Jun speaks very quickly.

"This is definitely not a simple operational error! I've had the video analyzed frame by frame, it's too bizarre! Tesla's Autopilot is absolutely involved! And the speed of the fire... Our battery safety plan must be completely redone! No, all safety redundancy designs must be re-evaluated! Can you come to Beijing immediately? Our team needs you!"

Lei Jun's tone was resolute, conveying a strong sense of urgency.

"it is good."

Jiang Qing did not hesitate at all.

"I'll book the earliest flight."

"I'll have someone arrange a car to pick you up from the airport!"

After Lei Jun finished speaking, his loud instructions to his assistant came from the other end of the phone.

"Closely monitor the developments in the Tesla incident!"

The phone hangs up.

All eyes in the conference room were on Jiang Qing.

"I'm going to the capital. Zhao Quan will be in charge of the following meetings."

Jiang Qing quickly tidied up the scattered documents on her desk while giving instructions to Zhang Bin.

"On the large model side, stress testing continues, and all test data is synchronously encrypted and sent to me."

"Understood, Mr. Jiang!"

Zhang Bin immediately responded.

At 1 p.m., Jiang Qing appeared at the Capital Airport.

Xiaomi's reception staff were already waiting at the exit. Upon seeing Jiang Qing, they didn't exchange any pleasantries, but simply nodded emphatically.

"President Jiang, President Lei and the team are waiting for you."

"Ah."

Jiang Qing didn't waste any words and gestured for him to lead the way.

After getting in the car, we sped off towards the Xiaomi Science and Technology Park.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was heavy.

The huge space was brightly lit, and the long conference table was full of people. Lei Jun sat in the main seat, his brows furrowed.

On the large screen in front, video clips of Lin Zhiying's car accident were playing repeatedly, alongside various technical analysis charts and diagrams of Tesla's vehicle structure and battery pack layout.

As soon as Jiang Qing pushed the door open and came in, everyone's eyes immediately focused on her, as if they had found their pillar of support.

"President Jiang! We've been waiting for you!"

Lei Jun immediately stood up and pointed at the big screen.

"The situation is more complicated than we thought. Come on, sit here!"

Without any formalities, Jiang Qing went straight to the empty seat next to Lei Jun and sat down.

The meeting immediately got down to business.

The engineer in charge of the accident analysis began to give a detailed report.

“Video analysis confirms that the vehicle was indeed in Autopilot mode before the impact. The key point is that there is a time window of about 2.1 seconds between the vehicle deviating from the lane and the impact. According to the design logic of Autopilot, the system should be able to detect lane deviation and issue a takeover warning, while attempting to automatically correct the steering wheel. However, both the video and eyewitness testimonies show that there was no warning sound, and the vehicle did not make any steering correction actions, as if... the system was completely asleep or ignored the deviation.”

Another engineer responsible for battery safety added.

"The initial assessment indicates that the fire originated in the front chassis of the vehicle, precisely where the front module of the battery pack is located. The impact may have damaged the battery pack structure, causing an internal short circuit. Tesla's Battery Management System (BMS) performed disappointingly in suppressing the spread of thermal runaway this time. The time from smoke to full-blown combustion was far too short."

The meeting room was silent, except for the engineers' continuous analysis.

Everyone felt an immense pressure.

This accident, like a cruel mirror, reflects the potentially fatal flaws of intelligent driving in extreme situations.

If Xiaomi, as a latecomer, fails to achieve the highest level of security, the consequences could be dire.

Jiang Qing listened silently, his fingers tapping lightly on the table—a habit he had when deep in thought.

After the two engineers finished their reports, he raised his head, his gaze sweeping across the room before finally settling on Lei Jun's face.

"Mr. Lei, everyone."

His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly. "This accident has sounded the most piercing alarm bell for us. It exposes far more than just problems within Tesla; it reveals the abyss that the entire industry may collectively face in its pursuit of intelligence and electrification."

He pointed to the frozen image of the impact on the big screen.

"The 2.1-second silence is more frightening than a system error. It indicates that in a specific scenario, there may be an unexpected break or blind spot in the system's perception, decision-making, and execution chain. This requires us to conduct a thorough and destructive retesting and verification of all sensor fusion algorithms, fail-safe mechanisms, and the most basic decision-making logic."

He then pointed to a diagram of the battery pack.

"Battery safety is the lifeline of electric vehicles. The fact that a collision that wasn't even at its maximum severity could lead to such a rapid fire shows that we must raise our standards even higher in terms of battery pack structural protection, early detection and suppression of thermal runaway, and passive fire protection! Even assuming a more severe collision, our battery packs must still provide occupants with sufficient time to escape!"

His words provoked a strong reaction.

"That's right! President Jiang is right! Our AEB trigger threshold needs to be reassessed!"

"Sensor redundancy must be maximized! The failure of a single sensor must never blind the entire system!"

"The standards for battery pack puncture tests must be tightened! The rate of thermal runaway propagation must be minimized!"

"And there's more data! We need to build a database of more extreme and complex localized scenarios! Ghost pedestrians, cutting in line, electric cars driving on the wrong side of the road... No matter how deep Tesla's data moat is, it's not entirely applicable to our road conditions!"

……

The atmosphere in the conference room was instantly ignited, with engineers taking turns to speak and engaging in a lively discussion.

Lei Jun's tense expression finally relaxed a bit, and he slammed his hand on the table.

"Great! That's the spirit we've been looking for! Mr. Jiang, please give us your guidance and we'll immediately set up a special task force! We'll provide the manpower and funding we need! Our assisted driving system's primary goal isn't showing off skills, it's safety! It's about saving lives! We must meet the strictest safety standards in the world!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Lei, I won't accept this consulting fee for nothing."

Jiang Qing joked.

"What President Jiang said is true!"

Lei Jun pointed at Jiang Qing twice, then shook his head helplessly.

A burst of laughter filled the conference room, slightly easing the tense atmosphere.

Jiang Qing then took over chairing the meeting.

The meeting started in the afternoon and continued until late at night.

After more than five hours of intensive brainstorming, dozens of key technical points that need to be tackled and re-verified were initially identified, covering all critical aspects such as perception, decision-making, control, battery safety, and system redundancy.

An initial framework for an urgent and comprehensive security enhancement plan has been developed.

As I walked out of the conference room, the streetlights were already on.

Lei Jun rubbed his throbbing temples, but his face was filled with excitement.

He patted Jiang Qing on the shoulder.

"Let's go, I'm starving! I know a place that makes really good donkey meat sandwiches, let's grab a bite! We can eat and sort things out at the same time!"

Jiang Qing readily agreed, her stomach rumbling loudly, and now she was willing to eat anything.

Not far from the R&D center, a small late-night food stall is still lit up on a street corner.

Several people sat around a greasy little square table, on simple plastic stools.

Lei Jun generously ordered several large plates of donkey meat sandwiches and several bowls of wontons.

"President Jiang, we need to make this move carefully and quickly today."

Lei Jun took a big bite of the baked bun, his voice muffled.

"Lin Zhiying's case has had a huge impact. Now the whole world is watching the safety issues of autonomous driving. This is a wake-up call for us. We might be the next ones to be put on the hot seat."

Jiang Qing slowly sipped the wonton soup in her bowl.

"There are no shortcuts to safety; we can only rely on the most basic methods: massive testing and extreme verification. We can't control the voices in the public sphere, but the experimental data must be solid."

"That's the truth!"

Lei Jun swallowed the food in his mouth, his eyes sharpening.

"What I'm worried about is that someone will take the opportunity to muddy the waters."

Jiang Qing nodded without saying anything.

He took out his phone, and the screen lit up automatically. On the lock screen, the headline of the news app push was exceptionally eye-catching.

Jiang Qing spotted at Xiaomi headquarters! Suspected to be related to Tesla accident!

"Can Wuwen Technology and Xiaomi's collaboration lead to a smart driving safety system that surpasses Tesla's?"

Can Jiang Qing help Xiaomi overcome the challenges of intelligent driving?

Clicking into the relevant discussion forum reveals an explosive level of interest.

Besides the widespread shock at the accident, well wishes for Lin Zhiying, and questions about Tesla, discussions about his collaboration with Xiaomi also occupied a significant portion of the online discourse.

"Jiang Shen has made his move! Xiaomi's intelligent driving system is now secure!"

"With Jiang Qing, this great god, making a move, he'll definitely be able to create a truly secure system this time!"

"Just waiting for Xiaomi Cars to crush Tesla! Jiang Qing is being overly optimistic!"

"With Jiang Qing around, I feel like Xiaomi's intelligent driving technology is on its way to godhood!"

"Jiang Qing is the pillar of stability in the field of intelligent driving!"

……

These comments were overwhelming and fervent, almost elevating Jiang Qing to a godlike status, as if his mere involvement would make Xiaomi's intelligent driving system flawless and utterly superior to Tesla's.

The praise was so exaggerated as to be almost nauseating, and it appeared too frequently and in such a concentrated manner.

Wang Teng, also holding his phone, leaned closer with a frown.

"President Jiang, President Lei, look, this trend is not right. Everyone is blindly praising him, and the whiff of flattery is too obvious."

Lei Jun leaned over and glanced at it a few times. His face darkened, and he threw the remaining half of the flatbread into the plate.

"They're quick on their feet! They're trying to put us on the spot, waiting to see us make a fool of ourselves! The higher they lift us up, the harder we'll fall! If we encounter even the slightest problem in our subsequent testing, even if it's just a minor setback in the normal R&D process, they'll magnify it infinitely and portray it as the collapse of President Jiang's myth and the inadequacy of Xiaomi's technology!"

Jiang Qing calmly scrolled through the comments, her face expressionless, though her eyes turned colder.

"As expected."

He put down his phone, picked up a napkin, and wiped his mouth.

"Ignore the noise. Let's do what we need to do. When it comes to safety, let the data speak for itself; it's more effective than a thousand online arguments."

"Correct!"

Lei Jun slammed his hand on the table, drawing the attention of diners at several nearby tables.

"Let them brag! We'll keep our heads down and get to work! Achieving the highest level of safety is more effective than any public relations effort!"

He picked up the bowl, drank the rest of the wonton soup in one gulp, and wiped his mouth.

"We'll see."

Jiang Qing didn't say anything more, and got up to say goodbye to the others.

More than ten minutes later, the black sedan disappeared into the Beijing night.

Jiang leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest.

The neon lights outside the car window shone brightly, reflecting on his profile.

The bizarre impact trajectory in Lin Zhiying's car accident video, the heated debate in Xiaomi's meeting room, and the overwhelming, clearly biased, glorifying comments online... countless fragments of images collided and combined in his mind.

He didn't send Thirteen to investigate, but he already knew which evil spirits were behind it all.

But he didn't care.

As long as Lei Jun's initial promise to him remains unchanged, and Xiaomi only offers "assisted driving" instead of "intelligent driving," it won't be a big deal for him.

However, it's a good thing that this incident can serve as a wake-up call for the Xiaomi team.

(End of this chapter)