Chapter 292

Chapter 292

Seosung Electronics has a stake in Karos, and Seosung SB has a stake in TS Company, which produces OTK batteries. Therefore, buying these two stocks was like an indirect investment in Karos and TS Company.

When Karos’ unmanned truck launch plan was announced, the stock price of Suseong Electronics broke again. Of course, most of the electronic equipment mounted on the truck was supplied by Suseong Electronics. Concerns over a peak in the semiconductor market have dissipated as the spread of autonomous vehicles has increased much faster than expected.

The market cap of Seosung Electronics continued to grow, and Seosung SB also overtook CL Chemical to enter the top 5.

Investors who bought these two stocks early cheered, but those who did not sighed.

Listed companies are valued by market participants (though that’s not necessarily true). On the other hand, the value of unlisted companies can only be estimated by analyzing various conditions.

Usually, the last invested amount is the standard. If an investor bought a 5 percent stake for $100,000, it would have a market cap of $2 million, and so on.

However, Karos does not receive any external investment except for OTK Company, the parent company. The only external investment received was an exchange of shares with Seosung Electronics.

Fund managers analyzed the value of Karos through the stock price of Suseong Electronics.

At the beginning of the year, Karos’ market capitalization was estimated at $150 billion. But now it’s raised to $300 billion.

This is higher than the combined market caps of Toyota, Nikola, GM, Ford, and Daimler AG. There were talks of high valuations and bubbles, but most responded that even this was cheap.

AD1 and AD2 have been very successful, unmanned logistics trucks have entered the commercialization stage, and new electric vehicles are about to be released at the end of the year.

Unlike other companies, Karos has vertical production capacity through its own factories and affiliates for autonomous driving software, electric vehicles and batteries. Experts predict that next year’s sales of Karos will exceed 4 million units.

In any country, automobiles are a key industry, and they are responsible for huge employment. Because of this, everyone moved quickly so as not to fall behind.

Germany, Japan, and China have granted temporary licenses for driverless cars to their automakers despite opposition from the transportation industry.

However, there was no obvious competitor to face Karos. Zhou Cha postponed all new car launches after the technology hijacking incident, and some companies abandoned the first mover strategy and adopted the fast follower strategy.

As Karos’s value was re-evaluated, the fortune of OTK Company CEO Kang Jin-hoo also increased significantly. His estimated fortune is about $300 billion, more than three times that of AMZ CEO Jake Byron, and comparable to the richest men in history, John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.

– That’s crazy. Can one person have that much wealth?

– At this point, shouldn’t the United States come forward and naturalize it?

– Is it really necessary? After all, after the earthquake, all of my assets are in the United States.

– I’m just a black-haired American.

– You’ve been to the military, haven’t you?

-After this, after the earthquake, I will feed Korea by myself.

* * *

When an article about the commercialization of Karos’ unmanned logistics truck was published, the transportation industry around the world was shocked.

In particular, the Korean taxi industry was taken aback.

Ride-sharing, which started with Iver, has become a global trend. In addition to Iver, several companies in various countries such as Left, Dada Chuxing, and Crab are competing fiercely.

In the meantime, various attempts have been made in Korea. Iver once entered the Korean market, but was expelled due to opposition from taxi drivers and illegal controversy.

But that doesn’t end there. Startups have entered the ride-sharing service market by taking advantage of the exceptions of the Transportation Business Act.

Data started the service with an 11-seater vehicle, aiming to allow driver mediation when renting a van with 11 or more seats, and Laxina TwoPlus made a carpool service by allowing paid transportation when commuting to and from work.

Although these services are legal, taxi drivers still protested strongly. When Next K tried to enter the carpooling business, a taxi driver made the extreme choice of self-immolation.

The government tried to negotiate several times, but the taxi industry refused to even participate in the discussion. Carpooling or anything else, allowing ride-sharing services is absolutely unacceptable.

In the end, due to strong opposition, NextK decided to put the business on hold.

At least the New Politics Party is pretending to have a discussion, but the Liberal National Party lawmakers lashed out at the government and took the side of taxi drivers. In addition, he introduced a bill to completely delete Article 34, Paragraph 2 of the Transport Business Act, which allows carpooling, and drew the support of taxi drivers.

If the bill is passed, all related startups will have to close their businesses.

Rather, if the whole world does not allow ride-sharing services together, there will be no problem. However, most countries have allowed it, and some have grown to the level of large corporations and entered the competition for future cars based on the data and capital they have accumulated.

In this situation, can only Korea remain as the Galapagos?

Dada Chuxing, made with the investment of Alijini and Wechant, declared that it would advance mainly in areas where there are already Chinese Chinese. He also expressed a position to allow Korea to operate Dada Chuxing for Chinese tourists.

It is intended to enter the Korean market through Eukers. At first, it will be aimed at domestic tourists, but then it will serve other foreign tourists and foreigners living in Korea, and later, it will gradually expand its scope to Koreans as well.

According to the current Transportation Business Act, it is legal to arrange drivers for foreigners. Therefore, there is no legal basis for stopping it.

Deleting the relevant provisions may be enough, but what if the Chinese government will ban group tours in Korea? Can I still oppose it?

In the midst of intensifying conflicts over ride-sharing services, driverless cars have now appeared. From a taxi standpoint, ride-sharing services are a competitor, but driverless cars are a killer.

Compared to logistics trucks that run mainly on highways along a fixed route, taxis have to watch the getting on and off of passengers, mainly driving in clogged downtown areas, and entering narrow alleys.

But it’s not that big of a problem. Even if there are some initial problems, they will be resolved in no time, and people will adapt quickly.

Above all, driverless taxis can dramatically lower taxi costs as the driver’s labor costs are reduced. If driverless taxis are half the price of conventional taxis, who will ride the conventional taxis?

This meant the collapse of the taxi industry.

No, it’s not just about taxis. This will happen in any field where driving is a profession. Trucks, buses, ships. The subway and high-speed rail will not be safe either.

The taxi industry decided on a general strike and declared that it would continue the struggle against the government to oppose ride-sharing services and driverless cars.

* * *

Taek-gyu asked.

“Many companies, not just Karos, have been testing driverless cars before. But why are you all of a sudden?”

“Up until now, we thought we could prevent or avoid change.”

Everyone knew that the kettle was on the fire. However, they are not preparing for anything, and when the water starts to boil, they seem to be startled.

In a way, the backlash from the taxi industry was nothing more than announcing that the era of driverless cars had already arrived.

There is no problem in Korea that is as difficult to solve as a taxi.

Oversupply, low taxi fares, taxi companies, private payments, the aging of taxi drivers, the development of public transportation as an alternative to taxis, etc.

There were pros and cons of the taxi strike on the Internet.

– Other countries also share rides, and autonomous and driverless cars are running, so does it make sense to ban only Korea?

-Then you’re saying that all taxi drivers should die?

– So you’re saying not to develop technology?

-Protecting existing businesses is a priority.

-In order to protect Nokia, we should have banned the N-Phone from NPL as well. After the smartphone came out, the feature phone completely went bankrupt.

The size of the taxi industry in Korea is large compared to the size of the population and economy. If you take into account the tickets of taxi drivers and their families, the number is 1 million.

Politicians who were conscious of their votes intervened, making it more difficult to solve the problem.

Taxi drivers went on a general strike and protested across the country, as predicted, while lawmakers from the Liberal National Party quickly rushed to the scene of the protest.

“We will definitely abolish the exception that allows carpooling at the party level!”

“Our party will stand by taxi drivers until the end!”

“The Liberal People’s Party condemns the Heo Chang-min regime that wipes out the taxi industry! The ruling party should stop killing the common people!”

Rep. Lee Jeong-hye was excited and raised her microphone and shouted.

“Drone vehicles are at risk of being hacked and broken! How can you trust a car driven by a replacement machine? If driverless cars run on the road, it will endanger the lives and safety of your precious children and families!”

Taxi drivers cheered, but most responded that it was ridiculous.

– No, he said that he would make an unmanned tram in the constituency?

-How do you trust a machine-driven tram?

-Will the creation of unmanned trams endanger the lives and safety of the precious children and families of local residents?

– In the presidential election, the government said that it would invest 1 trillion won in the development of autonomous driving technology.

– Do you think Korea should lead the future car sector?

– Transfer. Lee Jung-hye’s enemy is Lee Jeong-hye.

– You put Gensei on driverless cars.

The scene of the protest was broadcast live on TV. More than 100,000 taxi drivers gathered and shouted slogans. They all looked desperate as their livelihoods were at stake.

“Even the studio workers had their livelihoods at stake.”

“It’s a little different from that one.”

Those people still have the property of a building. And since the dormitory is not built on a scale that accommodates all students, even if there is a partial rent drop, it is tolerable.

However, the income of taxi drivers is still low. If ridesharing or driverless cars are allowed, profits will deteriorate dramatically.

The fear that technological advances will take away human jobs and the resulting backlash from workers has been around for a long time.

“The Luddite Movement, the John Henry Anecdote, etc.”

“Hmm, I’ve been listening to Ludite for a while. But who is John Henry? Does it have anything to do with my brother-in-law?”

“… … Will there be?”

This person’s last name is Henry, and Henry’s name is Henry?

“It’s a black worker who fought machines in the 1870s.”

John Henry was digging tunnels with other workers. However, when the employer tried to put the newly developed excavator into the field, the workers strongly objected.

Workers claimed that humans could work faster and more perfectly than excavators, and to prove this, they decided to compete with machines.

The content of the match was to start digging the tunnel at the same point, and the first to break through wins, and John Henry came out as the workers’ representative.

People were waiting on the other side and cheering. After a half-day battle, John Henry broke through the mountain before the excavator.

Seeing this, the workers applauded and cheered. But that was his last. John Henry, who used all his might, died on the spot.

Taek-gyu rubbed his eyes and asked.

“Is it true?”

“Considering that there are multiple versions, it is highly likely to be a folk tale.”(Read more @ wuxiax.com)

Since it is a famous story, it is always mentioned when discussing the problem of jobs due to technological development.

Regardless of whether it was a fairy tale or a true story, at least humans and machines were able to compete. But now even that is impossible. No one dares to dig faster than a Poklein or to calculate faster than a computer.

However, it has been believed that there are areas unique to humans that machines cannot do. However, with the advancement of technology, machines are now starting to enter these areas as well.

Driving, medical, legal, finance, creative writing, translation and more.

So, should AI treatment be banned for doctors’ jobs? Even the accuracy of diagnosis and analysis is much higher than that of specialists?

As the number of driverless vehicles increases, the traffic environment greatly improves, and the probability of accidents becomes even smaller. The number of fatalities and injuries due to traffic accidents will also be drastically reduced.

Should we not introduce driverless cars even in this case?

No matter how much you oppose it, no matter how much you block it, someone must do it.

Britain invented the steam engine and automobile, but to protect the wagon business, it enacted the Red Flag Act (a law that prohibits cars from running faster than wagons).

result? Automobile developers and investors all fled abroad, which boosted the German and American auto industry.

The UK repealed this law belatedly, but the initiative in the automobile industry has already passed to other countries. All British automobile brands were sold abroad, and Britain became the largest automobile importer in Europe.

It goes without saying that the wagon industry that they tried so hard to protect went bankrupt, and all the drivers lost their jobs.

Taek-gyu crossed his arms and nodded his head.

“It’s a difficult problem. So what’s the solution?”

“I don’t know.”

When I shook my head, Taek-gyu was startled.

“what? Didn’t you think of all the ways?”

“… … .”

No, what are you going to say to me?”

As there is a limit to what a single company can do, the state and companies must work together to solve problems.

Fortunately, the United States continued to prepare for this. Karos has set up a fund to support truck drivers who will lose their jobs, while revealing a plan to give priority to the unemployed. And Ronald ordered a federal level job action plan.

However, Korea did not take any action. This is because the politicians have only been eyeing the votes.

After the rally, taxi drivers marched toward the Sogang Bridge. For this, one lane was completely controlled.

Then, suddenly, something unexpected happened.

Some taxi drivers climbed up the arch without safety equipment, opened up banners and shouted.

“Call me after Gangjin! Otherwise, I will jump off the bridge!”