In my previous vision, the smart cockpit mainly consists of three parts: underlying architecture, application software, and cockpit electronics.
Cockpit chips, operating systems, middleware, etc., form the underlying architecture of the cockpit, determining the performance and structure of the entire cockpit system.
While specific cockpit functions are jointly realized by application software such as in-car maps, voice interaction, and terminal APPs, as well as cockpit electronic hardware like infotainment systems, LCD instrument clusters, HUDs, streaming media rear-view mirrors, and cockpit domain controllers.
Compared to the cockpit of traditional fuel vehicles, the smart cockpit replaces mechanical instrument clusters and traditional central control screens with LCD instrument clusters and large central control screens, which you can also understand as tablet computers, and replaces physical buttons with touch interaction.
This results in richer infotainment functions, and significantly improved safety, integration, and intelligence.
The R&D links involved include operating systems, application development, instrument cluster software development, TBOX software development, cloud services, multi-modal fusion interaction, situational awareness, and hardware.
To put it simply, we view the entire cockpit as a smart home system, controlling every step through the system.
After Chen Pingjiang finished speaking, Wang Chuanfu excitedly slapped his thigh:
"It's hard to imagine, General Manager Chen, your research into new energy vehicles has reached such a depth. I feel like you could even become our chief consultant at BYD."
Chen Pingjiang laughed heartily:
"Just a little bit, General Manager Wang. To be honest, I'm also very interested in new energy vehicles, otherwise, how could I understand them so thoroughly?"
"Well, if that's the case, what are we hesitating for? General Manager Chen, with your smart cockpit and promotion channels combined with my vehicle manufacturing experience, even if Tesla enters China later, we won't be afraid, right? Your image is so good, and you're a household name; we won't even need a brand ambassador in the future.
When the high-end new energy vehicles are produced, they can be directly showcased and sold in Orange Tech's direct-operated stores nationwide, killing three birds with one stone. Most importantly, in the future, the new company can also provide smart cockpit and intelligent driving solutions to external parties, and BYD will be the most loyal customer."
Wow, Chen Pingjiang could hear the clatter of these abacus beads all the way in Dongjiang.
Seriously, the prospect envisioned by Brother Boatman can really be realized, and 100% realized.
Firstly, both Renren.com and Orange Tech have a large number of engineers, including software, hardware, and algorithm engineers, so developing an in-car system is absolutely no problem.
Secondly, don't forget that DJI has also been acquired by Chen Pingjiang.
Didn't DJI, in its previous life, also venture into intelligent driving later?
The proposal Wang Chuanfu put forward is effectively to have Orange Tech or Renren.com play the role of Huawei, while BYD plays the role of Seres.
One is responsible for manufacturing, and the other for technology output.
Chen Pingjiang nodded:
"In principle, there's no problem, but the details still need to be refined."
Wang Chuanfu was naturally a shrewd person, understanding that Chen Pingjiang was referring to the capital injection and equity distribution of the new company between both parties.
He generously waved his hand then:
"As long as General Manager Chen agrees, with equal investment, BYD can take only 40%, while General Manager Chen takes 60%."
Chen Pingjiang also hadn't expected Wang Chuanfu to have such courage and sincerity.
He had originally thought they would have to contend for controlling interest, but unexpectedly, he saved his breath.
Since that's the case, what is there to hesitate about?
Chen Pingjiang himself wanted to get into new energy vehicles, but on one hand, his energy couldn't keep up, and on the other, he had no experience in car manufacturing.
As for the notion that Chinese people can't make good new energy vehicles because Tesla hasn't yet disclosed its patents, that's pure nonsense.
Firstly, the patents Tesla disclosed were all old, outdated ones.
The number of patents disclosed only accounted for one-tenth of Tesla's total patents, and after removing duplicates, only over two hundred remained.
Among these, even fewer could be utilized by domestic new car manufacturers.
Secondly, the reason Tesla disclosed its patents was conditional: any automaker that used Tesla's patents could not sue Tesla for infringement if Tesla later used their patents. Musk's calculations were very clever.
Furthermore, Musk also harbored the goal of quickly expanding the market, attracting other automakers to join, and invigorating the new energy vehicle market.
Otherwise, how much splash could he, Tesla alone, make?
Most directly, if he were the only electric vehicle company, supporting manufacturers couldn't keep up, component prices couldn't be driven down, the overall vehicle price couldn't be reduced, and sales would inevitably not rise.
After all is said and done, there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
Musk open-sourced his patents, and it wasn't just a Chinese version he released.
Why then did only China's new energy vehicles break through the siege?
Moreover, standing at this point in 2011, since Chen Pingjiang is entering the game with technology and capital, would he still need Musk's tiny bit of patents in the future? Who would be the first open-source guru is still uncertain.
Wang Chuanfu's thoughts were also very clear.
There are too many car manufacturers in China that can build cars, but genuinely few can do a good job with the software part in new energy.
Chen Pingjiang was undoubtedly one of them.
Could BYD do it themselves? Of course, they could.
However, R&D isn't something where you invest funds today and get output tomorrow; without 5 to 10 years, it would be difficult for BYD to get off the ground.
Facing uncertain outcomes, Wang Chuanfu was more willing to find a reliable person to cooperate with.
Chen Pingjiang had money, strength, passion, reputation, and fame.
Crucially, the two were also from the same hometown.
What surprised Wang Chuanfu even more was how knowledgeable Chen Pingjiang was about new energy vehicles.
The foundation for cooperation between the two parties was very strong.
Moreover, this joint venture would not impact BYD's existing business.
Chen Pingjiang only wanted to build high-end cars, which perfectly left a market segment for BYD.
Then, the original BYD factory would only need to develop mid-to-low-end models and, with the technological support of the new factory, it was believed that it could quickly secure a place in the new energy vehicle market.
This itself was creating incremental growth for BYD.
Anyway, Wang Chuanfu himself felt that it would probably be difficult for BYD to produce luxury cars costing over a million.
Both parties hit it off immediately.
The final outcome of their discussion was that each party would contribute 300 million yuan to establish a new company named Jiuzhou Auto.
Jiuzhou Auto would have two headquarters: Dongjiang would serve as Jiuzhou Auto's R&D headquarters, and Shenzhen as its production headquarters.
The production lines would directly utilize BYD's existing ones, which would save funds to the greatest extent.
In the new company, Orange Tech would hold a 40% stake, DJI a 10% stake, Chen Pingjiang's personal investment company Tianyuan Capital a 10% stake, and BYD a 40% stake.
Renren.com had too many shareholders, so it wouldn't be included.
Orange Tech was Chen Pingjiang's wholly-owned enterprise; bringing in DJI was hoped to enable DJI to develop vehicle control systems in the future.
The board of directors of Jiuzhou Auto would consist of seven people in total, with four from Chen Pingjiang's side and three from BYD's side.
Chen Pingjiang would serve as the chairman of Jiuzhou Auto, and Wang Chuanfu as vice chairman and CEO.
Chen Pingjiang would be based in Dongjiang, responsible for the R&D of smart cockpits and vehicle control systems, while Wang Chuanfu would be based in Shenzhen, responsible for the R&D of hardware, chassis, batteries, and other components, as well as vehicle manufacturing.
After the cooperation intention was finalized, Wang Chuanfu appeared very excited.
"General Manager Chen, tonight we must have a good couple of drinks."
"No problem, I'll keep you company till the end tonight."
Coming to Shenzhen this time was truly the right decision, Chen Pingjiang thought to himself.
The future Yangwang U8 and U9 would no longer bear the BYD logo on the front, but Jiuzhou's.
Two days later in the afternoon, both parties jointly held a press conference regarding the establishment of Jiuzhou Auto, announcing this good news to the public.
After the press conference, BYD's stock price surged.
However, the outside world didn't seem particularly optimistic about Chen Pingjiang's move this time.
"Has Chen Pingjiang gotten carried away? Doing things he doesn't understand, first a wafer factory, and now new energy vehicles."
"What new energy vehicles? To put it bluntly, they're just electric cars. Can electric cars also be called new energy? Then the electric tricycles for seniors running all over the streets are also new energy."
"Haha, what happens if an electric car runs out of power halfway on the highway?"
"Tesla is already far ahead abroad, while domestically, it's just starting, heh heh."
"Why doesn't he continue to advance vigorously in his areas of expertise? He insists on doing things he doesn't understand, thinking he's the savior."
"I'll just smile and say nothing. If China's so-called new energy vehicles can make it, I'll shit while standing on my head."
...
Chen Pingjiang looked at the comment section and knew the sentiment was spot on.
New energy vehicles weren't favored at the time.
Everyone believed that fuel vehicles were king.
In recent days, it was common to see domestic new energy car companies defrauding national subsidies, with the resulting products being garbage.
Of course, there was also the most important reason.
In 2011, the country's soft power was not strong enough, and the moon was still rounder abroad...
In this era, saying patriotic things online would get you cursed.
It's just that he wondered what these people would think later when they saw the 99,800 yuan poster for a 2.9L fuel consumption Haibao 06.
...
"You're really something else. If I hadn't seen you and BYD holding a press conference, I wouldn't have even known you were in Shenzhen. How could you come without telling me? Do you not consider me a friend?"
After Xiaomage learned that Chen Pingjiang had arrived in Shenzhen, he insisted on hosting him.
Chen Pingjiang smiled and said:
"I'm here to discuss projects and cooperation, not to play."
"What? Can't we discuss cooperation?"
Xiaomage had been doing quite well recently.
Firstly, he had already become the third-largest shareholder of Renrengou.
How much money would Tencent earn if Renrengou went public in the future?
In addition, after WeChat followed Chen Pingjiang's advice and focused on stranger social networking, it quickly surpassed Momo, and its monthly active users were steadily increasing.
Also following Chen Pingjiang's advice, Tencent had now begun to enter the overseas gaming market.
"Recently, I saw you and Ali's side fighting fiercely. How is it going now?"
Xiaomage asked.
"It's just like that, everyone has their own interests. The domestic internet market is only so big; isn't it always a mix of fighting and cooperating among companies?"
After thinking for a moment, Xiaomage asked:
"I want to create my own payment system, what do you think?"
Chen Pingjiang chuckled upon hearing this:
"Go ahead and do it, but if you only use it internally, it's fine. If you want to divide the market into three, it will probably be difficult."
"Haha, of course, we'll use it internally to pay fewer channel fees. Competing with WeChat Pay and Alipay probably won't get us anywhere."
This person also had it tough.
His luck was constantly being taken away by Chen Pingjiang.
Now, even wanting to create his own payment system, he had to inform Chen Pingjiang.
It wasn't about appeasing Chen Pingjiang, but simply that the two companies were currently cooperating so happily, and he didn't want Chen Pingjiang to have any misgivings.
The evening was a private dinner arranged by Xiaomage.
The group drank until past nine in the evening, before Chen Pingjiang returned to his hotel, slightly tipsy.
Recalling the message Yin Zhen sent during the day, Chen Pingjiang simply sent a WeChat message:
"Come!"
On the other end, after Yin Zhen received the message, she immediately cheerfully massaged her sister's shoulders and legs, leaving Yin Hui feeling bewildered.
"Unusual kindness implies mischief or theft. What do you want to do?"
Yin Zhen playfully stuck out her tongue with a giggle.
"I'm going out for a bit, Sis."
Yin Hui immediately realized,
"Are you going to see Chen Pingjiang again?"
Yin Zhen blinked innocently.
"You're beyond saving..."
"Oh, you're my dear sister, remember to keep my secret, and I'll bring you some delicious food when I get back."
Watching her sister's retreating figure, Yin Hui felt both nervous and somewhat expectant about what was about to happen.
About half an hour later, Yin Hui, who was bathing in the bathtub, felt a jolt in her heart, and that mysterious, profound feeling returned.
In an instant, she felt her breathing quicken, her cheeks burning hot, blushing from her neck to her earlobes.
Accompanied by spasms, she couldn't help but rub herself again...
(End of chapter)