It's not the first time that Xiaomi touched porcelain to build a car. I remember that toy Jimmy. After the unveiling, I went directly to Mile Mile and recorded every ghost animal of General Lei.
With the lesson of toy Jimny, look at this slightly blurred picture that has been forwarded many times; And that font seems to be designed in word, and I didn't take it seriously. Sure enough, BYD and Xiaomi both rumored that it was false.
However, if you think about it carefully, the rumors that technology companies are tentatively building cars have never stopped. Letv, Xiaomi, Huawei, Apple, Google, Baidu, Ali, Didi, Tencent ... 996 and Neijuan are no longer the symbols of top Internet technology manufacturers, but building cars is. So we have reason to infer that Pinduo will build a car soon.
Next, we might as well expand the concept of "building a car" and simply classify it to see how technology companies participate in "building a car" from shallow to deep.
The first category: being a father behind my back
Representative players: Meituan, Tencent, Ali, etc.
As we all know, Meituan, Tencent and Ali are the major shareholders of Ideals, Weilai and Tucki, which are the top three new forces in car manufacturing.
Let me tell you a story. The net profit of Q3, the parent company of KFC, surged by 96% because of its soaring shares in Meituan.
Meituan Q3' s net profit surged by 374%, because its Li stock soared.
Ideally, 8660 vehicles were delivered in the third quarter, a quarterly high.
Therefore, I suggest that Meituan and KFC buy more takeout of Li, KFC provides working meals for ideal employees, and Meituan makes recommendations and optimizations for KFC. This ideal sales increase, the stock soaring, promoted the profit increase of KFC and Meituan, and KFC's sales can also be improved, thus forming a perfect closed-loop model with the left foot stepping on the right foot. Isn't it beautiful?
Therefore, companies like Meituan, as long as they find reliable new forces, build cars with lanterns, and then give money, they can enjoy the success, and then happily engage in community group buying and earn cabbage money.
Of course, finding a reliable new force to build a car is a high-threshold technical job. Look at the original investment in LeTV and Baiteng, and 202 1 was taken away.
The second category: models on applications.
On behalf of players: Tencent, Ali, Huawei, Baidu, etc.
Tencent and Ali kidnapped the mobile phone and the car.
Tencent's love of listening, packaging Himalayan, QQ music, WeChat reading directly on the bus, scanning code and one-click synchronization; In-car WeChat has exclusive buttons on the cars of manufacturers such as Chang 'an, which has become the highlight of their products. The quintessence of fighting landlords landed from the United States model? 3. What is a teacup head? I just want to pour my aunt a cappuccino and Thirteen Orphans.
A few years ago, Ali and SAIC cooperated with Zebra System, which was also the leader of in-vehicle system. It is very convenient for SAIC models to access Alipay applet and parking payment. At the same time, the Tmall Elf has quietly got on the bus.
Customized apps such as Baidu map and Huawei application market have gradually appeared in the car. Nowadays, many customized maps carried by electric vehicles can recommend nearby charging stations according to your power, and even directly make a UI of a charging station. When looking for a power station, there is no need for voice or manual search.
Judging from the feeling that Xiaomi gives people at present, I prefer them to "build cars", that is, to help car companies build smart cockpits and let their own rice families get on the bus.
Of course, it is foreseeable that in the future, these giants will infinitely penetrate into various modules of the car machine, and migrant workers can no longer refuse to return to the leader's WeChat on the grounds of "driving".
The third category: software and hardware suppliers
On behalf of players: Baidu, Huawei, etc.
Everyone knows that the future development trend of automobiles is intelligent interconnection and autonomous driving.
For the intelligent interconnection system, Tencent and Ali's various apps can run in the car, relying on chips; For autonomous driving, hardware and software are indispensable. Hardware determines the detection accuracy, and software and algorithm determine the decision accuracy.
At present, Huawei has Kirin 7 10A car chip, lifting chip, MDC600, computing platform, HarmonyOS system and certain hardware supply capabilities, which can theoretically cover the entire smart car ecosystem.
Of course, Huawei's car-making is also a process of seven in and seven out. In the left hand, it says, "Whoever makes suggestions to build a car and interferes with the company can leave", and in the right hand, it says, "We can do what Tesla can do now". Here, it is said that we should become an incremental parts supplier of intelligent networked cars, and transfer smart cars from 2B to 2C conveniently, plus the story of "Huawei will never make mobile phones" in the early years ... Well, I can see that my face is distorted.
In addition, I also saw in the circle of friends that Huawei invited the editor of Sina Auto to visit his home, which was very intriguing. It happened that the editor of Sina Auto was invited, not Sina Technology or Sina Weibo. What is this for?
Let me talk about Baidu again. Although Baidu's reputation has declined in recent years, it feels that it will be expelled from "BAT", but they are unambiguous in autonomous driving. Baidu launched Apollo, a pure vision L4 autopilot solution. Lite, and ANP (Apollo? Navigation? Pilot assisted driving.
You know, at present, except Tesla, Weilai and Tucki have developed their own algorithms, no other manufacturers can come up with similar navigation AIDS. By the way, I hope this navigation assistance system will not be contaminated with the bad habits of Baidu Department, and navigation will guide me to Putian Department.
It is reported that Weimar originally signed an agreement with Baidu, and all the automatic assisted driving functions of its models came from Baidu and could not be used by other companies. It can be seen that Baidu also has a certain monopoly ability in this field.
The fourth category: joint ventures to build cars
On behalf of players: Ali, Baidu, Huawei, etc.
At this time, technology companies are not playing the role of suppliers, but have been deeply involved in building cars.
Ali, SAIC and confidant cars in Pudong New Area have raised10 billion yuan. Ali here is definitely not getting a zebra according to SAIC's needs. The big data, intelligent ecological technology and equity in his hands will definitely affect all aspects of smart cars.
Huawei made an appointment with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. and Changan to build a high-end brand; Didi has gone further, and BYD's tailor-made car is already on the road; There are also rumors that Baidu has held preliminary private talks with Geely, Guangzhou Automobile Group and Hongqi, and may set up a joint venture company to build cars in the future.
At this time, the problem came. If the technology company didn't pick it, does it prove that this car company is not good? Car companies that don't appear above must work hard.
The fifth category: build your own car
On behalf of players: Apple, LeTV, etc.
The above-mentioned car-making behavior, because technology companies have never participated in vehicle research and development, I prefer to call it "light asset car-making". However, our old friend LeTV is determined to set foot in making cars from definition, R&D, production, manufacturing, procurement and other aspects. It also built a factory, which belongs to "heavy assets to build cars" and is essentially close to the new force of building cars.
Of course, it's no use saying anything now, it's already cold.
However, there is another company that seems to be "building a car with heavy assets", and that is Apple.
According to DigiTimes, Apple is preparing to build an automobile production line in the United States, and has begun to discuss technical specifications with global automotive electronics suppliers. It is estimated that by 2024-2025, "Apple? The car will be officially unveiled.
Our understanding of Apple's car-making has always stayed in the name "Project? On Titan's smart car R&D project, it was rumored that Apple had hired people from Tesla, Chrysler and Volkswagen, but the project was later put on hold.
However, it has also been reported that the big bosses that Apple poached from traditional giants generally signed a non-competition agreement with the original company, according to the time when Apple poached people, the general term of the non-competition agreement and Apple's online communication? The car's appearance time was found to be correct.
In short, I hope that Apple can subvert the car like a mobile phone.
■? Why do some people love to pass on technology companies to build cars?
The question is, why is it that whenever a technology company has a little wind of building a car, everyone will forward it like tap water; And I said that Evergrande built cars, and you all sang bad?
I think there are two reasons. One is that everyone agrees with the strength of the above-mentioned technology companies and thinks that they can make good cars. Seeing that the products of technology companies are getting better and better from generation to generation, and the press conference is getting taller and taller every time, coupled with the brand of "big factory" and the marketing far beyond the automobile company, people can't help but feel that they are omnipotent.
Moreover, the intelligence of some traditional car companies is really lame, and the backward productivity cannot meet the people's growing demand for intelligence.
Recently, the on-board system of a luxury brand car was tested. From appearance to interaction to intelligence, it becomes more and more annoying. I didn't get online all morning, so I flashed back. I was so angry that I couldn't wait to order fried chicken with KFC bubble chips and smash it on its central control screen. Therefore, it is reasonable for everyone to pin their hopes on technology companies that know users better.
Furthermore, I think some friends may think it is too simple to build a car, and then it is easy to believe that enterprises related to "manufacturing" or "technology" can build a car.
If you don't believe me, just find a documentary about automobile production and see what nonsense that barrage said, which can make practitioners stunned.
Even if technology companies can make cars top-notch, the most essential things of cars, such as driving quality, safety, adjustment and testing, are still controlled by traditional car companies. Decades of accumulation is not blown out, but every engineer who chooses a mechanical industry that is bitter, tired and unprofitable works day and night.
Of course, if technology companies can cultivate consumers, no matter how the car is driven, I will buy it as long as it looks good and has an online experience comparable to that of mobile phones, which is also great for them. After all, Apple can educate users that the cell phone signal is poor and the battery collapses, but the next cell phone is still Apple (yes, this kind of user is myself), so I still have great hopes for technology companies.
Finally, internet and technology companies are welcome to build cars and add some new blood to this market; At the same time, I hope they can respect making cars, and don't forget the most essential things of a car.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.