Chapter 71

Chapter 71

We got on a plane to America. Our destination was Silicon Valley.

If I didn’t have the money, I’d prefer to sit in a narrow economy class and go through, but I cut off the direct first class flight because I had plenty of room.

We sat down and unpacked our luggage.

“How many hours will it take to arrive?”

“About ten and a half hours.”

“I should go to sleep.”

Taek-gyu changed into his pajamas, laid the seat down completely, and closed his eyes.

I drank the wine the flight attendant brought and thought about my future plans. When I first started investing, I never imagined that I would come this far.

In a capitalist society, money is power. The more money you have, the more powerful you are.

Even if the cat roams freely, no one will care. But what if the cat grows like a tiger?

This is our situation now.

What started out as $10 million in assets grew to tens of billions of dollars, and gained worldwide fame (notoriety?).

No matter how unwilling to hurt people, it is the human heart that makes them want to put on a leash and lock them in a cage.

Politicians or the business world will somehow try to put a leash on us.

So, should I just crawl into the cage with my leash on?

After the L6 incident, I reached out to Taek-gyu and said, let’s go to the end It wasn’t empty words. If I was going to stop at this point, I wouldn’t even start from the beginning.

If you don’t want to be dragged around by a leash, you need to think carefully from now on.

Our weapons are the cash in our accounts and the companies that have equity. If their foresight is correct, they will grow into more than $1 billion companies.

And there is Golden Gate as a force that can help.

Golden Gate, the world’s largest IB, is deeply rooted in American politics and business to the extent that it appears without falling into various conspiracy theories. It is something that cannot be treated lightly in Korea.

However, it is only an alliance formed out of necessity. Although there is a link called Hyunjoo noona, it is questionable whether he will help us even at the cost of loss if something happens.

Business alliances aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, a relationship made of profit is more certain than clumsy loyalty.

Because it means that we will not betray as long as it is beneficial to be together.

While I was organizing my complicated brain, a huge continent appeared.

* * *

The plane landed safely on the runway at San Francisco Airport.

I woke up sleeping Taek-gyu.

“wake up.”

“Have you arrived already?”

“Huh.”

The weather outside the window was sunny. It was afternoon when we left, but it was morning when we arrived.

We changed clothes and got off the plane. Recently, Europe is suffering from terrorism and illegal stay. Perhaps because of such an atmosphere, immigration in the US has also been strengthened.

After passing through immigration, collecting our luggage and heading out to the arrival hall, a man in a black suit was standing holding a sign with our names on it.

He was a tall, handsome young man who looked about the same age as me.

I remembered the phone call with Chase Southwell a few days before departure.

[I heard that you are going to America. If that’s okay with you, we’d like to provide security and guidance from our side.]

I accepted it as there was no reason to refuse.

The young man held out his hand.

“You worked hard to come. I am Henry. It is an honor to have you two.”

“Nice to meet you, this is Jinhoo Kang.”

“It’s Taek-gyu Oh. Please.”

As we followed him out of the airport, the mild California sun came down. Just by looking at the weather, I feel like I can understand why everyone wants to live here.

A limousine was waiting in front of them, and in front of them stood two men who appeared to be bodyguards. The reason I thought so was because I was wearing an in-ear in one ear. If you look closely, the suit pockets are bulging.

is it a pistol?

In the US, guns are legal anyway, but it’s no wonder the bodyguards have guns.

We got on the back.

“Please go to Palo Alto.”

* * *

Silicon Valley is a huge city.

We arrived at a building in Palo Alto. This is where Karos’ headquarters and research center are located.

Taek-gyu looked at the company and admired it.

“Wow.”

Apart from the cash in our accounts, we own these companies.

At the news that we were coming, CEO Daryl Sagan came out to the entrance of the building. Just like when we first met, they were dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and sneakers.

Daryl welcomed us warmly.

“Welcome to.”

“Long time no see.”

He is one of the few people who know that I am the CEO of OTK Company.

“You did a great job without seeing it. I was surprised to see the article.”

Of course we are talking about Brexit.

I smiled.

“I was lucky.”

“I’m really glad the company hasn’t changed owners.”

“We just invested money, we didn’t do anything.”

Daryl laughed at my words.

“The company was able to grow thanks to doing nothing. Compared to the time when hands and feet were tied up due to the interference of Eunseong-cha, now is the best environment.”

In fact, investing money and not interfering with management is easy to say, and it is not something that anyone can do.

However, we did not touch any issues related to management. Because I thought that the companies that would do well would do well, and the companies that would fail would go bankrupt.

We toured the inside of the company with Daryl’s guidance. Perhaps because it was a start-up company, the atmosphere inside the company was free. Even when the CEO walked around, the employees didn’t care and continued what they were doing.

In the lab, the computer was running non-stop. Various road conditions were displayed on the screen divided into dozens.

“What is that?”

“This is virtual driving. We use simulation to develop our learning skills.”

According to Daryl, he has already driven more than 3 billion miles of virtual roads and is collecting data by conducting experiments assuming various accident situations.

Of course, since many variables work on real roads, actual road driving is also being carried out at the same time.

After looking around, we headed to the meeting room.

There were already about 10 employees waiting there. These are the management and development team, which can be said to be the core personnel of Karos.

There were also familiar faces among them. Ryan Gates and Sergei Yovanovic, whom I met in Korea the other day.

It feels good to see you again.

Daryl introduced us to his staff.

“They are from OTK Company.”

The staff looked at us in amazement. You must have never expected that these young Asians would come to receive the management report of the subsidiary.

As we sat down, Sergei, the CFO, gave a presentation on the current business and financial situation. It was quite a long announcement, but the conclusion was simple.

Taek-gyu spoke to me in Korean.

“Why do you keep talking about not earning a single penny and running out of money?”

A company is one of two things.

Make money or eat money. Carlos is currently on the latter side.

Businesses need endless money to survive. Therefore, you have to either sell goods to make money or bring in money from outside. If the money transfusion ceases, the business will come to a standstill.

We bought an 86% stake in Karos from Eunsung Motors for $88 million. And most of the $12 million that was cut through negotiations was put back into development costs. However, within a year, the development cost ran out, and some loans were secured using the building and patents as collateral. Now even that money has run out.

At this point, I think I can understand why Eunsung’s car broke his hand and sold it.

Even if there is no immediate result, the investment will continue to flow. However, there is no guarantee of future results. It must have been the feeling of pouring water into a completely drained poison.

However, the poison slowly began to fill with water.

After Sergei’s presentation, Ryan, the COO, continued the presentation. For a year and a half, Karos devoted himself to the development of an automobile operating system, including autonomous driving AI. And now we are almost at the completion stage.

Ryan said confidently.

“If you look at 100 percent completion, the current technology is 95 percent.”

Taegyu said.

“Isn’t that almost complete?”

Then Daryl shook his head and said.

“God is in the details”

If this were simple software, some error might be acceptable. However, errors in autonomous driving are directly related to life.

Nikola, a new electric vehicle maker, is the company that has most actively started installing autonomous driving technology in cars. A few months ago, however, a major accident occurred while Nikola was driving the S model autonomously.

It was an accident that collided with a white truck that appeared on the opposite side. When I found out why the car continued to run without stopping even when an obstacle appeared, the reason was absurd.

The sky was exceptionally clear that day, but the camera, which had to recognize obstacles, could not distinguish the white truck from the sky.

The car eventually crashed into the truck without slowing down, and the driver died on the spot.

This showed how fatal a small error can be in autonomous driving.

After criticism, Nikola announced that Autopilot is not self-driving and that the driver must always keep an eye on the front and operate the steering wheel and brakes at any time.

But if that’s the case, I’d just drive it myself, what would you use Autopilot for?

Not a single mistake is tolerated in autonomous driving. And Carlos was heading in that direction.

Although it was not yet complete, it was clear that it was only entering the stage of completion. It can be said that the current technology alone has already passed the 4th level of autonomous driving and has reached just before the 5th level.

Can you get a sense of how great this is?

It has been common knowledge to have drivers since humans started riding things. This was also the case when moving from a wagon to a car. However, the era in which drivers are no longer needed is ushering in.

When the owner calls, the car in the parking lot runs out, and when the fuel runs out, it automatically enters the charging station to charge the battery.

At that time, driving will remain only as a hobby, not a real life.(Read more @ wuxiax.com)

Something like something out of a science fiction movie?

But this is going to happen, and it won’t be too far away. Experts predict that autonomous driving will be completed within 10 years, and driverless cars will run on the roads.

It is a fact that everyone already knows that autonomous driving is the core technology of future cars. Therefore, automobile companies and IT companies are spurring technology development at once.

Until half a year ago, Carlos couldn’t even join the ranks, and no one cared about it.

But now things have changed.

There are two key technologies for future cars.

One is autonomous driving and the other is electric. The former is software, the latter is hardware.

We have dual software technology.

So, which is more important, software or hardware?

Of course, both are important. But if you ask me to pick one, I’ll pick the software. Especially if it’s an operating system.

Hardware technology can be copied. Korea has caught up with Japan in that way, and China is catching up with Korea in a similar way.

Can’t you just copy the software?

Of course it is. In some ways, it’s easier and faster to copy than hardware. However, there is one major difference between the two.

When IBM was a big company, Microsoft was just a subcontractor that made software. However, the situation was reversed when Microsoft’s OS was designated as IBM’s PC OS.

Since then, Windows has been installed not only on business computers but also on home computers, and dominates the PC OS market.

A similar situation occurred later in the smartphone as well.

The developer of the smartphone OS Andromeda visited Suseong Electronics and offered to acquire it. However, Seoseong Electronics, which was developing its own OS at the time, rejected the offer, and Andromeda was embraced by Gubble.

I don’t even need to explain what happened next. Backed by Gubble’s backing, Andromeda has dominated more than half of the global smartphone OS market.

Suseong Electronics, which had been wandering in the smartphone market for a while, eventually gave up its own OS and released the L series equipped with Gubble’s Andromeda.

Fortunately, thanks to the relatively quick stop of shoveling, he settled in the market and was able to earn the title of NPL’s opponent.

However, the lack of its own OS meant that it had to continue to be dragged by Gubble in the smartphone market. After that, Seoseong Electronics released a smartphone with a new OS called Typhoon, but the market was already completely dominated by Andromeda and NOS.

The most important thing about software is not how good it is, but how many people use it.

Windows did not dominate the market because it was the best operating system. Because they dominated the market.

What Karos is developing is an operating system that can control the entire car, not just a simple autonomous driving AI.

As the technology reached the stage of perfection, automakers, realizing how great this was, changed their stance and approached it.

“Currently, we are receiving inquiries for partnerships from Toyota Group, Daimler Group, and Eunsung Motor Group.”

“What did you ask for?”

As there are already many precedents, there will be no way for others to do something good.

Daryl said to my question.

“We are asking for a stake in Karos.”

That’s why we’ve come this far.