Chapter 270
Chapter 270
Tenway is the second largest logistics truck brokerage company after Yunmanbang.
The reason for the suspension of business is that the truck drivers were overcharged, shortened time, and forced to pay low wages. For whatever reason, when Tenway’s service was stopped overnight, shippers and truck drivers went into an uproar.
If it had been Korea, they would have filed an administrative lawsuit right away, but in China, it is a no-brainer.
The business suspension period is ten days. The problem is that consumers who have used the service in the meantime will go to Winmanbang or other companies. In this case, even if business resumes later, a blow is inevitable.
Yaomin sighed and said.
[For now, we have no choice but to wait for the suspension to be lifted.]“Okay. Please report the situation from time to time.”
He went to China to check the situation with Chairman Im Jin-yong, and Chairman Han Chan-young also contacted Chinese officials.
Fortunately, in the midst of this, the semiconductor, which accounts for the largest portion of Suseong Electronics’ Chinese sales, was not touched. The expansion of the NAND flash memory plant in Xi’an also proceeded without any problems.
Needless to say, semiconductors are now in demand more than supply to the point of being called a supercycle. It’s their loss if they say that they won’t buy it on the pre-order plate, with extra money here and there.
And since semiconductors are intermediate goods, imports must be restricted or tariffs imposed. As a result, only the negative effects of increasing the price of Chinese electronic products appear.
For reference, China has declared itself to become a semiconductor leader within five years.
Taegyu said.
“What kind of bastard has so much stamina?”
“That’s it.”
All you have to do is stick with oysters. If you add all of these things together, does it literally become ‘Continent Rolling’?
President Zhang Pinghua plans to invest more than 1 trillion yuan to foster the semiconductor industry. This shows just how much China cares about high-tech industries.
The same is true for future cars represented by autonomous driving and electric vehicles. So, we must be the enemy, who were at the forefront and refused to cooperate with a Chinese company.
Taek-gyu pointed at me and said.
“Is that strong earthquake a harmful earthquake?”
“… … That’s it.”
If I had pointed to Taek-gyu and said, ‘That otaku is a harmful otaku’?
The original text is the famous ‘that bird is a harmful bird’.
This is what Mao Zedong said when referring to the sparrows that peck at the grain. With a single word from the President, the people made the Chinese sparrow extinct.
The result?
All kinds of pests, including grasshoppers, which sparrows ate, arose, and the worst famine occurred, and tens of millions of people died of starvation (not just because of this, but because of the comprehensive failure of the Great Leap Forward).
The problem is that these traditions are still being passed down.
As soon as the party points out that “that company is a harmful company,” it moves in every direction, applying all sorts of nonsensical regulations and sanctions to expel them.
But now are we the targets?
China’s economy is a form of state capitalism, a combination of the communist party’s unique planned economy and capitalism. As such, there has been a long-standing governmental system in which the government intervenes in businesses.
The most famous of these is China’s censorship of Internet information, also known as the Golden Shield. China thoroughly blocks information that is harmful to the socialist system and the Communist Party.
American companies are no exception to this, and Gubble and Facenote, which are used by people all over the world, were blocked, and Internet companies were also subject to various restrictions.
Meanwhile, Baidu dominated the Chinese search market, Alijiny dominated the online market, and Witchant dominated the game and content market.
Unlike global companies, they strictly follow the policies of the Chinese government. On portals and SNS, only the articles and information the government wants are displayed, and information such as the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square incident is blocked from being searched.
In any case, it was clear that the Chinese government was targeting and moving companies related to OTK Company.
Fortunately, the sanctions were limited to companies invested by Suseong Electronics, Eunsung Motors, and OTK Company, and the sparks did not spread to other Korean companies.
However, it was a serious enough situation, and it was also a problem that local companies who read the intentions of the Chinese government were paying attention.
China insists that sanctions against Eunsung Motors and Suseong Electronics are normal activities of administrative authorities, and the cancellation of other events related to Korea has nothing to do with them.
The opposition Liberal National Party raised a voice that the government should immediately protest strongly, but the ruling New Politics Party did not respond properly. As China accounts for the largest share of exports to South Korea, it is said that it will be hit hard if sanctions are spread.
I remembered what Vice Chairman Wang Yi-chang had said. Did you mean that if a small country goes against a big country, it will get angry?
Is this a warning or is it just a rant?
* * *
Even with the passage of time, the sanctions were not easily lifted.
The firefighting inspection of the home appliance factory of Seosung Electronics is still in progress, and the exhaust gas investigation of the Eunsung car is only being reviewed. And Tenway’s business suspension was extended for another ten days.
In the midst of this, China entered into a Japanese inspection against its travel agencies. This is to prevent damage to consumers due to low-priced packages.
Then, Korean travel products disappeared, and scheduled tours were canceled one after another. The travel industry is in crisis.
There were voices from the political circles saying that we should also take some action against Chinese companies, but it was still a riot.
The Korean government only paid attention to the Chinese government as the damage to Korea would be much greater if it escalated into a melee battle.
I’m watching China closely, not knowing what to do again, but Zhou Motors suddenly unveiled a self-driving car.
Chairman Zhou Kai came directly to the presentation room and said:
“Zhou Cha has been jointly developing autonomous driving technology with several companies. And now it is revealed in front of you. It is more than perfect, the self-driving car JW8!”
Those who test drove the car were very satisfied and praised the car if it was not inferior to the AD1 and AD2 of Karos.
Chairman Zhou Kai said that he would start mass production next month and sell it all over China, and revealed his future plans.
“Starting with the JW8, we will release three more autonomous vehicles within this year, and commercialize driverless taxis and unmanned buses within the next year!”
At that, the people all stood up and applauded.
At home with Taek-gyu, I watched Zhou Tea’s new car presentation on TV.
“uh! what? They made it too.”
I nodded my head at Taehyung’s words.
“Because China has also been developing driverless vehicles with IT companies and automakers centered.”
Leading companies include Zhoucha, Baidu, Wechant, Didi Chuxing, and BID.
Originally, they developed their own technologies, but after Carlos’s technology announcement, the Chinese government led a joint development front.
I thought it would take some time until the official release, but it’s going to be a surprise release like this. Did you rush to release a car made with your own technology when the joint venture failed?
In fact, there are not one or two companies that have reached completion of autonomous driving technology. GM, Gubble, Nikola, Iver, etc.
However, since autonomous driving technology depends on human life, there should be no error. With that slight difference, Karos can take the lead.
“It’s made in China, is it okay?”
“Made in China is not common these days.”
It is a thing of the past to ridicule people who were made in China. It has now risen to a level that cannot be ignored even in the high-tech field.
How big is the technology gap with Karos?
As I was thinking, my phone rang. It was none other than Daryl, the CEO of Carlos. I usually contact the company, but there are not many cases of contacting me by cell phone.
I pressed the call button.
“Good morning.”
[Did you watch the Zhou tea presentation?]For some reason, it sounds like a very angry voice.
“Yes. I just saw it.”
[They copied ours.]“What do you mean?”
Daryl said screaming.
[Damn! These motherfuckers stole our technology!]I was surprised by that.
“Is that really true?”
* * *
We headed straight to Detroit.
It is the first time to the US since Big One. Come to think of it, more than half a year has already passed since the Big One happened. A lot of things happened in the meantime.
I slept and woke up and arrived at the airport.
Taek-gyu yawned and said.
“When you enter the country, shouldn’t the journalists and the welcoming crowd be waiting?”
“… … .”
I didn’t tell anyone except Karos management just in case.
I showed my passport at the immigration desk. The employee, who was asking questions and stamping the arrivals with a tired expression, looked at his passport and looked at me with his eyes wide open.
“No, it’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Kang.”
“nice to meet you too.”
I put my finger slightly to my mouth to tell no one else.
As we exited the arrival hall, a car was waiting outside the airport. It is none other than the AD2 released by Karos.
Sergei, Carlos’s CFO, came to meet him.
“You worked hard to come.”
“How you doing?”
We met after a long time, greeted warmly and got into the car. The car went straight to the Karos headquarters.
Sergei spoke to us with only his hand on his steering wheel. Without any need to operate, the car took care of the ride and stopped and broke his steering wheel.
As we entered the city, the road was jammed with cars. Among them were AD1 and AD2. I’ve seen a lot of videos, but it’s amazing to see them rolling on the road in person.
“How is the company atmosphere right now?”
“It’s like an emergency. Daryl is so angry that everyone can’t even speak to him.”
While we were talking, we arrived at the company.
In the conference room, CEO Daryl, COO Ryan, and executives were already gathered.
Daryl had an extremely angry expression on his face, and his hair was in a mess as he hadn’t washed for a long time. I’ve known him for a long time, but this is the first time I’ve seen him like this.
Instead of saying hello, I immediately asked a question.
“Did Zhou Cha really copy Karos technology?”
“That’s right.”
“I didn’t test drive it myself, I just saw it on video. But how are you sure?”
Then Daryl replied nervously.
“We reviewed all published videos. Vehicle movements and systems are almost identical to ours. I can tell just by looking at the movement of the wheels.”
“… … .”
Is this possible?(Read more @ wuxiax.com)
Everyone seemed to agree with Daryl to some extent. In the eyes of ordinary people like us, self-driving cars are all the same, but from the point of view of engineers, there will be slight differences.
Daryl has been leading Karos’ autonomous driving technology development from start to finish as a programmer and engineer at the same time as CEO.
Numerous researchers and engineers have been involved, but no one will dispute that he is the father of this technology.
It is only natural that affection and pride are that great. If you think that it has been stolen, you will only get angry.
“Copied doesn’t mean you’re just imitating, does it?”
Daryl said confidently.
“of course. What I’m saying is that the source code and data are copied.”
The screen arrangement and operation method of NOS and Andromeda, which divide the smartphone OS market, are almost the same. To some extent, they may have been influenced by each other, but they are clearly different operating systems.
Copying a picture as it is and reviving the memory of seeing it and drawing it as similarly as possible are two completely different things.
Everyone’s expression turned serious. I feel the Sim Awakened as well.
Autonomous driving is the original technology of Karos. If you copied this technique, it would be an instant to catch up.
“How did Zhou Cha copy the Karos technology?”
No one could easily answer that question.
Taek-gyu asked in a low voice.
“The researchers and engineers were taken away.”
“It is.”
In fact, Chinese companies have actively recruited talent from NPL, Guble, Nikola, and GM. On our side, too, three key researchers left, and two of them went to China. If you include technicians, it will increase even more.
However, it is impossible to copy the technology equally by taking a few people. If that was possible, the technology of all companies would have been upgraded.
Trial and error can be greatly reduced, but it takes a lot of time for technology development. And the finished result will also be different.
“Is there any way to prove that you copied it?”
Daryl said right away.
“You can compare the source code.”
A very simple and sure way. If you compare the codes and match each other, you will not be able to subtract or beat.
“You can’t disclose that.”
Which company would go crazy and disclose their core technology to the outside?
Daryl insisted strongly.
“Then we must disclose it through a lawsuit!”
“Are you going to go to trial in China?”
Zhou Tea is a Chinese company, and as much as the country of origin is Chinese, it has to be tried in China. Then, of course, the Chinese court will favor the domestic company.
Because it’s China.
