After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future-Chapter 229 - 228: The Annoying Sticker

"Old Li, he really lacks vision," Lu Liang said with indignation, Zhu Hu nearly spat out his beer: "Everyone knows that Baidu is brimming with talent. Xiaomi has poached from them, Byte has done it, and so has Meituan. Mr. Li is now like a startled bird. Bro, you might as well give up on your scheming."

"If subtle approaches don't work, then we'll have to be overt."

Lu Liang had heard that while others were still developing smart driving systems, Baidu had already taken a step ahead with their autonomous driving project.

The project was named Apollo and included four major modules: high-precision mapping, localization, perception, intelligent decision-making, and control.

In the field of navigation, Baidu Map is the only company that can compete with Gaode Map, giving Baidu a natural advantage in the development of autonomous driving.

Lu Liang was truly envious; he had money now, but no people, otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths with Hammer.

Out of curiosity, Zhu Hu asked, "How do you plan to do this overtly?"

"Let's get Hammer's matter out of the way first."

Lu Liang didn't want to talk more about it, and Zhu Hu didn't ask further, but he could guess that aside from throwing money, there seemed to be no other way.

Because Lu Liang's advantage was his wealth, but as long as he was willing to spend money, and spend it where it should be spent, it was not impossible to bite off a chunk from Baidu.

Baidu had been established for too long, and they had been listed for too long as well, with the internal hierarchy already solidified and stock incentives mostly carved up.

Those who joined later could only endure the bitterness of hard work, picking up the scraps and leftovers from the established beneficiaries.

The longer an enterprise has been established, the more serious this situation becomes, creating opportunities for outsiders.

The next day, Lu Liang drove Zhang Tian'ai to the airport; her vacation had ended, and she was off to Lu Island for filming.

This meant that they wouldn't be able to see each other for at least two more months.

Thus, there was still an hour and a half before boarding.

The car bore the brunt of their cramped and impassioned space, and Lu Liang found that he had been bruised again.

Zhang Tian'ai giggled, her cheeks flushed, with fine beads of sweat still on the tip of her nose. Taking advantage of the fact that Lu Liang wasn't angry yet,

She quickly kissed his cheek, then put on her hat and mask, grabbed her suitcase, and dashed off with her head down.

"Watch where you're going, don't trip!"

"I know~~"

Lu Liang chuckled and sighed; he could only return to the hotel to change into a new set of clothes before heading to the National Convention Center.

Meanwhile, Zhang Tian'ai sent him a message, with pitiful emoji: "I think it's leaking out."

Lu Liang teased with a laugh, "Then you should take more antipyretics."

"I took them before and after."

"…"

Lu Liang fell silent.

Women, when they catch fire, can really push the envelope.

She was born in '90, and Lu Liang felt like he couldn't keep up with her.

...

At one o'clock in the afternoon, at the National Convention Center.

Today, Li Xiang was holding a new car release event for their one model, having booked the entire A1 area, and many news media were present.

Li Bing was also there to show his support, chatting with He Xiaopeng. Rumors were spread that NIO, Weiliao, and Li Xiang had a mutual help group; it seemed the rumors were true.

As soon as Lu Liang appeared, he immediately became the focus of the whole venue, and the sound of discussion within the conference room subconsciously quieted down by several degrees.

Not only because it was his first public appearance but also due to his active support for the new energy industry.

Especially Old Jia from LeEco—his gaze was almost tangible.

Lu Liang felt a chill running down his spine; just two hours earlier at the airport, the way Zhang Tian'ai looked at him was identical.

It was one thing with a woman, but with a man...

He couldn't handle it.

Luckily, Li Bing saw him too and hurriedly waved him over. Ignoring Old Jia, Lu Liang walked up to them, and Li Bing introduced, "Mr. Lu, this is Mr. He from Xiao Peng."

"Hello, Mr. He," Lu Liang said with a smile.

He started working with computers in 2002 and had personally witnessed the evolution of the internet from the PC era to the mobile era.

If he had to say which software left the greatest impression on him from the PC era, it was QVOD; for the mobile era, it was UC, or more precisely, UC before it was acquired by Ali.

Associated with He Xiaopeng, too, there was a natural fondness.

"Mr. Lu, I've long admired your reputation."

He Xiaopeng humbly smiled, also sizing up Lu Liang.

Unlike Li Bing and Li Xiang, it was his first time meeting Lu Liang, the man hailed as the biggest financier (currently) of the new energy sector.

Just in Ningde alone, he had invested more than four billion, not to mention the tens of millions of US dollars in both NIO and Li Xiang, and the hefty sum over one hundred million US dollars in self-developed vehicle systems.

In fact, the country had long been promoting the development of the new energy industry, but the person who truly made the term "new energy" widely known was Lu Liang.

Because normally, major national policies are like a drizzle, silently nourishing everything; in the first few years of development, apart from industry professionals, few others were aware.

It was Lu Liang who ignited this industry. Whether or not the market accepted it was another story, but it was indeed him who made more people aware of the existence of new energy and that the nation was actively pushing forward.

He Xiaopeng too decided to enter the field early because of Lu Liang, otherwise he would have stayed at Ali for another half a year, carefully observing.

"Mr. Lu, I heard that Li Xiang's vehicle is also equipped with Tianxing's system?" Li Bing asked with a smile, probing indirectly.

Surprise showed on He Xiaopeng's face as Lu Liang laughed, "It's not really a system, just a smart central control."

Li Jiahui had told him it wasn't that their system was so incredibly amazing, it was just that Li Xiang's original system was trash.

It was like a rushed job.

Lu Liang could understand; after just completing their Series A funding, it was heard that Li Xiang was out of money again. They needed to produce some results to ensure continued investment.

"If Mr. Li adopted it, there must be many advantages."

He Xiaopeng made no attempt to hide his strong interest.

He inquired whether the system was customized for Li Xiang, or if there was an intention to bring it to the market, expressing Xiao Peng's great interest.

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Although he wasn't from an automotive background like Li Xiang and Li Bing, he was from a tech background; it was no disgrace to learn from others where one lacked.

If Tesla's patents weren't so fraught with potential pitfalls, he probably would have borrowed them a long time ago.

"It's not yet perfect, we've only licensed it to Li Xiang, but we should be able to release the first public version in December."

As Lu Liang spoke, he turned to glance at Li Bing, whose smile became somewhat stiff, "Looking forward to the official version's launch."

Their ES8 probably couldn't escape; they could only hope that Lu Liang's vehicle control system wasn't too impressive, otherwise, they would likely find it hard to justify not using it in the future.

He Xiaopeng handed over a business card, smiling broadly, "Mr. Lu, if you launch the public version, remember to contact me first."

"Definitely, definitely," Lu Liang took the card and also took out one from Wen Chao's bag to return the favor.

"What are you all discussing here?"

Old Jia approached, his smile as warm as a spring breeze, climbing the proverbial mountain if it wouldn't come to him.

"We were just discussing the in-car control systems, Mr. Jia, you might be interested, too," Lu Liang replied, his smile unchanged but with a silent sigh in his heart—inevitably, what was to come had come.

"I'm very interested indeed."

Old Jia rambled on, recounting LeEco's supercar and the plan to hold a new car launch by the end of the month.

The others showed odd expressions upon hearing this.

If we were to consider the founding dates, LeTV Car had a five to six-year lead over them.

Over the years, the number of new car launch events LeTV had held and the models announced couldn't be fewer than five, but they all existed only in PPT.

Till now, as Weiliao's new cars were emerging with actual products, Old Jia was still pondering concept cars.

"Mr. Lu, Mr. Jia, I'll leave you to it; I see an acquaintance," Li Bing said, fearing he couldn't hold back laughter and recognizing that Old Jia had come for Lu Liang, so he promptly left.

He Xiaopeng also excused himself, and the two of them left together.

Lu Liang's heart sank as he was left to keep up appearances with a strained smile.

Old Jia was still talking, "Mr. Lu, I know you're not like the others, we're of the same kind, you should understand my thoughts."

"The current new energy market is too small, annual sales total no more than 400,000 units; it's not suitable for someone of our size to enter the market. That's why you began developing the vehicle control system, just as I had thought. We must adapt to a changing market with unchanging goals and firm resolve."

Mr. Jia found reasons for his PPT car-making; the first batch of new energy vehicles definitely had many drawbacks, and the first batch of owners would undoubtedly regret their current decision.

For the sake of the consumer market at large, he was waiting for the right moment. It seemed as though there was no mass production, but the technology was constantly being updated and iterated.

"Mr. Lu, have you heard of the Xiong'an New District?" Old Jia tossed out the bait. This was a soon-to-be trillion-yuan investment to build a supercity, which was also the rising city for LeEco.

Over the next decade, they planned to rely on the Xiongan New District to create a city of autonomous driving.

Lu Liang was speechless, his expression saying it all: "Mr. Jia, I'm really not interested, perhaps you should find someone else."

After playing middleman for so many years, he well understood the difference between school district housing and non-school district housing; no matter how much buzz a new district generated, if it still carried the Hebei license plate, it wouldn't see the day of success.