Chapter 481 Driverless Cars

Under the chairmanship of Li Zetian, Cainiao Network Company was formally established, with Li Zetian serving as chairman and Jack Ma concurrently serving as CEO of Cainiao Network.

In the entire logistics network, warehousing is the storage and management link of goods, and it is the top priority! Li Zetian spent huge sums of money to build Cainiao Network, so naturally he would not spend the money on building traditional warehouses. The times are developing, and if you want to build a modern warehouse, you must build it! In Li Zetian's vision, warehousing should be built into an "unmanned warehouse"! ! !

"Unmanned warehouse" uses a large number of intelligent logistics robots to collaborate and cooperate. Through many advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, deep learning, image intelligent recognition, and big data applications, industrial robots can make independent judgments and behaviors to adapt to different application scenarios. , commodity types and forms, complete various complex tasks, and realize automation in commodity sorting, transportation, outbound and other aspects.

Amazon has built some unmanned warehouses in the United States. According to statistical data, the storage efficiency of "unmanned warehouses" is more than 10 times that of traditional beam shelves. The parallel robot picking speed can reach 3,600 times per hour, which is equivalent to 5 to 6 times that of traditional manual labor.

The "unmanned warehouse" can not help but save a lot of labor costs, and it also greatly improves work efficiency! However, the initial investment is relatively large and the technical requirements are relatively high, but these two points are no problem for Li Zetian.

On the morning of November 30, the weather was clear and the quiet West Lake was breathtakingly beautiful.

Cainiao Network held a business summit at the Four Seasons Hotel in West Lake, Hangzhou. Manufacturers, online merchants, third-party service providers, Alibaba, SF Express, Three Links and One Express and more express companies gathered in Hangzhou, and even government officials.

At the beginning of the summit, Li Zetian was the first to take the stage. He first gave a speech at the summit, putting forward the idea of ​​"unmanned warehouses" and even briefly mentioned drones and unmanned vehicles. He said: "'Unmanned warehouses' Human warehouses are the development trend of modern warehousing, so I believe that one day, couriers may be gradually replaced by drones and unmanned vehicles!!! In the future, the entire logistics line will be deployed from warehousing to final distribution. All will be fully equipped with intelligent equipment, from unmanned warehouses, drones to unmanned vehicles, to provide users with a more efficient and smoother shopping experience!!!"

After speaking, all the big guys who came to attend the summit expressed shock.

What Li Zetian said vividly painted a picture of future logistics scenes for them, which surprised them and broadened their horizons!

For now, unmanned warehouses are awesome enough, but can you still think of using unmanned aircraft or even unmanned vehicles to deliver goods? It's just crazy! ! !

Of course, there are many people who question this. They think Li Zetian's ideas are a bit whimsical. They once thought that he was a combination of madman and genius!

"I can't believe it. If it's true as Chronos·Li said, then many logistics workers will definitely be unemployed in the future..."

"Unmanned warehouses are okay, but delivery by drones and autonomous vehicles is a bit unreliable."

"Haha, the modern traffic and road environment is so complex that even experienced drivers cannot guarantee their own safety, let alone driverless cars. If driverless cars drive onto the road, there may be many traffic accidents..."

"Chronos is so ambitious, hehe, he really dares to think of anything!"

"..."

Some people are dismissive of Li Zetian's ideas, while others are naturally full of curiosity and interest in Li Zetian's ideas.

After the summit, major media around the world reported on the summit.

Within a few days, the chairman of BMW contacted Li Zetian.

"Chronos Li, hello, I am Norbert Reithof, Chairman and CEO of BMW."

Li Zetian was stunned for a moment, a little surprised. Why did the chairman of BMW contact him?

"Oh, hello, Mr. Norbert Reithof!" Li Zetian paused and asked, "Excuse me, do you have anything to do with me?"

"Yes, Mr. Li." Norbert Reithof smiled, "A few days ago, your speech at the Hangzhou Summit was very exciting, and you mentioned the autonomous vehicle project, which BMW is very interested in. "

Li Zetian smiled bitterly and said: "I heard that many people do not agree with the autonomous vehicle project, but your company is actually interested?"

"Haha, Mr. Li, can I say that those men and mice are short-sighted?" Norbert Reithof laughed, then flattered him and said, "Who in the world doesn't know that you are a super genius, Chronos Li? There is no design project that has failed. Although the autonomous car project seems absurd, BMW believes that it is possible to realize it! Mr. Li, BMW is very willing to cooperate with you!!!"

Li Zetian was startled when he heard this. He said calmly: "Mr. Reithof, I think you should know that I have a car company under my name..."

"Yes, of course I know, it's Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. However, Mr. Li, I think you also know that BMW's technology is much more powerful than Rolls-Royce Motor Cars! If you want to develop driverless cars , then cooperating with BMW will definitely be beneficial to both parties!" Norbert Reithofer's tone softened, "Mr. Li, BMW can jointly form an autonomous vehicle company with Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, you What do you think?"

Li Zetian began to think deeply at this time. He was thinking about why BMW, one of the world's leading automobile giants, had to cooperate with him. Suddenly, Li Zetian thought that unmanned vehicles require a lot of artificial intelligence technology, and artificial intelligence technology, Crono Sri Lanka’s Industrial Artificial Intelligence Laboratory leads the way. You know, almost the entire Internet is currently using the artificial intelligence technology of Cronos Industrial Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, such as Microsoft Cortana, Apple Siri, Google Home, Baidu Dumi, etc.

The focus of driverless cars is “unmanned driving”. Obviously, BMW will never be able to defeat Li Zetian if it develops self-driving cars on its own. But if it cooperates with Li Zetian, BMW can quickly enter the autonomous vehicle market and become the first company to take advantage of it. In the future, if BMW develops its own autonomous vehicle brand, it will have technical advantages and rich development experience compared to other car companies.

In addition, since Li Zetian proposed the unmanned vehicle delivery project, this means that after the unmanned vehicle is built, there will be a large number of orders.

Li Zetian thought of this quickly. He smiled and declined: "Mr. Norbert Reithof, I need to think about this matter carefully!"

"No problem, Mr. Li, we have plenty of time. You can call me anytime if you think about it."

"Oh well."

After that, the two ended the call.

Li Zetian secretly shook his head. Although the unmanned vehicle project has not been approved at this time, he has been working on technical reserves. The unmanned vehicle project has great development potential, and I would rather develop it independently than let BMW get a share of the pie, unless BMW is willing to accept its own acquisition.

Self-driving cars caused a stir in the auto industry, but it quickly subsided. Research and reports on driverless cars have actually always existed. In 2004, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) took the lead in the most important challenge in the history of driverless cars. The team successfully made driverless cars The car traveled through the Mojave Desert. By 2005, a modified Volkswagen Touareg from Stanford University took on the challenge even more perfectly.

However, no car company really regards autonomous vehicles as a key development project. At least, they will not spend their main resources on the development of autonomous vehicles until they see the prospects of autonomous vehicles.

Where there is demand, there is a market.

In Li Zetian’s view, people have great doubts about the safety of autonomous vehicles and are by no means the best users. If you just go to the street and do some market research, the vast majority of people say they don’t dare to ride in an autonomous car!

Autonomous vehicles must first be tested by the market. Only after they are recognized can people confidently buy autonomous vehicles. Therefore, the best use of the first batch of autonomous vehicles is delivery. When people discover that unmanned vehicles deliver goods without accidents, they will gradually recognize unmanned vehicles.

Therefore, Li Zetian vigorously developed logistics and after achieving a huge scale, he felt that he could develop unmanned vehicles and produce and sell them himself without worrying about sales.

…

After the Hangzhou Summit, Li Zetian did not return to the United States immediately, but continued to stay in China for a while. He then went to Shenzhen to inspect Xiaomi.

Because of the support of the Android system and strong spare parts suppliers, the development cycle of Xiaomi mobile phones will not be very long.

When Li Zetian came to Xiaomi Company, Lei Jun came out with the company's senior officials.

This was the first time Li Zetian saw Lei Jun, and he couldn't help but take a closer look at him. He was quite tall and polite. Perhaps because of the high work pressure, he had serious dark circles under his eyes.

Well, another technology tycoon from the previous life...

Li Zetian smiled, and Lei Jun stepped forward with excitement on his face and said excitedly: "Hello Mr. Li, I am Lei Jun, welcome to Xiaomi!!!"

It’s hard to describe how amazing the iPhone is!

Lei Jun couldn't help but regard Li Zetian as his idol, and Xiaomi mobile phones are almost modeled after iPhone mobile phones.

Li Zetian stretched out his hand to shake his hand and said, "Haha, hello, Lei Jun."

"Oh, by the way, Mr. Li, let me introduce to you the people around me. This is Zhou Guangping, the former senior director of Motorola's BJ R\u0026D Center, and this is Liu De, the former director of the Industrial Design Department of BJ University of Science and Technology..." Lei Jun pointed to several people around him and introduced them one by one.

"Hello!" Li Zetian nodded to them and shook hands.

After a brief introduction, Lei Jun took Li Zetian to visit the Xiaomi mobile phone R\u0026D laboratory.

In the Xiaomi mobile phone R\u0026D laboratory, Lei Jun introduced the characteristics and research and development progress of Xiaomi mobile phones to Li Zetian in detail.

Li Zetian nodded secretly, very satisfied.

The development speed of Xiaomi mobile phones is very fast. From September to now, in two months, Xiaomi mobile phones have almost completed 35% of the development progress.

"Xiaomi is still recruiting people, and the speed of mobile phone development will further increase in the future!" Lei Jun said, "We strive to officially launch Xiaomi mobile phones in April next year!"

Li Zetian nodded, pondered for a moment, and said: "In April next year, Nokia will also release a new mobile phone. This will be a huge challenge for Xiaomi!"

Lei Jun said with confidence: "Mr. Li, don't worry, my team and I are full of confidence in Xiaomi phones!!!"

"Yeah," Li Zetian nodded again. He wanted to mention Xiaomi's marketing techniques, but he swallowed them as soon as he spoke. If Lei Jun and others don't have the ability to take charge of their own business, what's the use...

There are many Li Zetian properties in Shenzhen.

In the morning of the next day, Li Zetian went to Tencent (China) Company, and in the afternoon, he went to Baidu Company.

On the third day, Li Zetian traveled from Shenzhen to Hong Kong to visit his parents. I stayed in Hong Kong for two days before returning to the United States.

Once in the United States, BMW Chairman Norbert Reithofer actually called again. It can be seen that BMW is really interested in autonomous vehicles.

Li Zetian thought for a while and decided to have a showdown with him, then said: "Mr. Norbert Reithof, it is not impossible for BMW to want to cooperate with me, but I have a condition."

"Tell me, what are the conditions?"

"I want to invest in BMW!" Li Zetian said calmly.

"If Mr. Li wants to invest in BMW, of course we are very welcome!"

"Mr. Norbert Reithof, maybe you don't quite understand what I mean. I want to acquire BMW!" Li Zetian paused and said, "Rolls-Royce Motor Company can be merged into BMW. In addition, I will also invest US$25 billion, and BMW will transfer 60% of its shares to me.”

When Norbert Reithof heard this, he frowned immediately!

PS: I have been busy in the past few days, so the updates are a bit sparse. I will update more tomorrow.