All round car designer

Chapter 557 Map Application
After the signing of the contract, Zhou Fei hosted a banquet for all Human employees at a nearby restaurant, which was regarded as a celebration banquet for the successful cooperation.

"We have decided to put the research and development center of autonomous driving here in Silicon Valley, so the number of Human technicians must be expanded. Tesla's headquarters will also send some technicians here. On the one hand, we will assist you in the future. more importantly, you are here to learn, you are the technical director of the company, and these jobs are arranged by you.”

After the dinner, Zhou Fei began to discuss Human's follow-up work arrangements with Ramsey and Lin Hua.

"In addition, regarding the personnel changes of the company's management, Jiang Yang will also send more people to join Human, but you are still the main one. I am not doing this to decentralize power, but to better help the company grow stronger. I hope you can understand this point." Zhou Fei looked at Lin Hua again and said.

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhou, Lin and I will obey your arrangements." Ramsay replied with a smile.

"Jiang Yang will be responsible for the coordination of the establishment of the R&D center and subsequent work arrangements. In the future, Human's left and right R&D funds will be provided by the company headquarters. The first 5000 million US dollars of funds will arrive tomorrow morning. Experimental use The Tesla is already on the way of transportation, and when the conditions are in place, the real car test will be carried out immediately." Zhou Fei continued to remind.

"I know." Hearing this, Ramsey couldn't help showing a look of eagerness to try. After waiting for so long, it's finally time to enter the actual test.

In the following time, Zhou Fei chatted with Ramsey and Lin Hua for more than half an hour before the two groups went back separately.

"The ticket to Munich has been changed to one o'clock tomorrow afternoon. After lunch, let's go directly to the airport." Zhou Fei lay on the back of the chair and said a little tiredly.

"Actually, there is no need to be so anxious in Munich. It's not too late even if you go the day after tomorrow. Why don't Brother Fei take another day off?" Seeing Zhou Fei's tired face, Jiang Yang quickly persuaded him.

After coming to the United States, Zhou Fei was almost on a whim, finally settled the matter here, and had to go to Munich.

"No need, the air tickets are all booked, hurry up and finish things here, and you can go back early." Zhou Fei waved his hand and said.

"Oh, by the way, what did you mean when you said you were going to give Ramsey a gift?" Jiang Yang also knew Zhou Fei's temper, so he changed the subject and asked.

"Yes, I'm also curious, what kind of gift is it?" Ma Huafu and asked in the back row.

"I want to acquire another map software company, or develop a map application by myself, do you think it's feasible?" Zhou Fei immediately perked up when he said this, and he sat up and asked.

"Mr. Zhou, is this for the commercialization of unmanned driving in the future?" Ma Huafu asked.

When Zhou Fei explained why he chose Baixun as the first choice for Tesla’s partner, he once said that Baixun’s map is a very important reason, and now Tesla’s partner is Human. There is no way to talk about the service of map software. Zhou Fei proposed to acquire a map software company at this time, probably out of the same consideration.

"Not only unmanned driving, but also the development of sharing and networking is inseparable from the support of maps." Zhou Fei explained.

Visual computing can only determine what the road conditions ahead are like for autonomous driving. If you want to promote driverless cars on a large scale, you must embed corresponding map applications in the system to ensure that the vehicle can analyze the road conditions according to the actual situation. The quickest route to travel.

This can be said to play a very important role in the large-scale promotion of unmanned driving. Only when the vehicle can recognize the daily driving path, people will feel confident and bold to take the self-driving car.

Of course, in addition to the need for map applications for driverless driving, the realization of sharing also requires the support of this service, just like Didi and Meituan in the previous life, whether it is to determine the passenger's boarding location or plan the passenger's travel route , These are all inseparable from the support of the map. Although sharing has not yet developed, Zhou Fei is planning for a rainy day.

The key now is that Zhou Fei is not sure whether it is cost-effective to acquire an existing map software company, or to develop an application by himself.

The advantage of acquisition is that the existing software is very mature and can be used at any time, but the cost must be high. If you develop one yourself, although the initial cost is lower, the development cycle will be very long, and the software will go through several rounds. Public testing, optimization and perfection can only be used, and the subsequent maintenance costs must not be low.

Of course, the problem with self-development is that the location of the map is not necessarily accurate, which will add a lot of trouble to future applications. This is more common on Didi. Not only is the location of the boarding location sometimes very inaccurate, In the process of riding, the wrong route will also be provided to the driver.

Therefore, based on the overall cost, self-development may not be cheaper than acquisition, and in a sense, it may even be higher.

"Then Brother Fei is more inclined to buy?"

"That's my plan, but for the specific cost calculation, I will ask the finance department to make it more accurate later, and then we will make a decision." Zhou Fei replied.

"If you really want to buy, it should be the best decision to choose domestically. There is no need to think about Baixun's three major map software in China. The remaining two, Gaoteng Map and Virtue Map, are not independent. It should be very difficult to acquire a map application company. Gao Teng not only has a wider usage rate, but also only has a single service of maps, which is more in line with our requirements."

Ma Huafu analyzed later.

The reason why foreign map software is not mentioned is because there is only one foreign map software that China is familiar with, and the parent company of this map software is a technology giant in Silicon Valley, so it is basically impossible to acquire it.

Therefore, purchasing from China should be Zhou Fei's best choice.

"There is no rush, let's put it aside for now, and we will discuss this matter after the Munich matter is dealt with." Zhou Fei nodded. The most urgent thing is to get the construction of the factory done.

There is still a long way to go for the unmanned driving map application, and even the subsequent shared development. If it is ready, Zhou Fei will gradually improve it in the future.

"By the way, Ma, you ask Tesla to prepare a statement announcing that we have acquired Human, and briefly introduce the areas of cooperation between the two parties in the future. This matter must be announced." Zhou Fei remembered this matter. matter, hastily ordered.

I have been busy for several days, and it is time to let the public know about this matter, and it can be regarded as an end to the Baixun incident.

(End of this chapter)