Why BAT is a supplier in the automotive field instead of making cars directly? This is actually very wise

With the release of Tencent's autonomous driving strategy in November this year, the three Internet giants have fully entered the field of autonomous driving. Nowadays, it is no longer a new thing for Internet companies to enter the automotive industry. Some of them have reaped the fruits, some have stagnated, and some have failed miserably. So, as the leading companies in the Internet industry, can BAT bring us different surprises?

Production qualifications bring disaster to Internet car manufacturing

An American named Musk made Tesla a success. Can a Chinese named Jia Yueting make Faraday Future a success? The facts have proven that it is not possible! Because according to domestic policies and regulations, to obtain the production license of automobiles, you must first have a large enough production scale, in other words, you need enough funds. Jia Yueting once estimated that LeTV would need at least 40 to 50 billion yuan of investment to make cars. This may still be an optimistic estimate, but even so, LeTV could not raise enough money, and BAT did not dare to invest so much.

Although we have seen the birth of many new energy vehicle brands in 2017, every car company that has obtained production qualifications has a strong industrial background. Perhaps the launch of NIO ES8 has saved some face for Internet car manufacturing, but it is worth noting that NIO ES8 borrowed the productivity of JAC Motors and the production qualifications do not belong to itself at all. An Internet company cannot even obtain the most basic production qualifications, let alone car manufacturing.

BAT is a wise choice to play the role of supplier

LeEco's failure in car manufacturing has also caused other Internet car manufacturing companies to stagnate. BAT also knows that with their current strength, they are still far from enough to build cars. Since Internet companies cannot derive a host factory, it is a very wise choice to find another way to enter the field of autonomous driving and become one of the suppliers of in-vehicle interconnection systems for the host factory. First of all, the government has thrown an olive branch to autonomous driving. Just a few days ago, Beijing issued a new policy on autonomous driving. In the future, the traffic management department will launch test roads that can be used for autonomous driving. With the improvement of supporting policies, autonomous driving cars are getting closer and closer to our real life.

Secondly, Internet companies have inherent advantages in the field of intelligent interconnection. Although they have no industrial background and cannot produce excellent mechanical parts, in today's highly developed Internet of Vehicles, Internet companies have the opportunity to serve the automotive industry. They can design an excellent in-vehicle intelligent interconnection system, thereby bringing users a good user experience. Among them, Baidu Carlife and Alibaba's Banma Zhixing system have been equipped on mass-produced models, and Tencent's AI IN CAR car-connected system has also been released. It is believed that it will soon appear on mass-produced models. The achievements made in in-vehicle interconnection are also a perfect preparation for BAT's future entry into the field of autonomous driving.

The road ahead is still full of thorns

BAT's pioneering work in the field of autonomous driving, coupled with the support of domestic policies, has pointed the way for Internet companies to enter the automotive industry and also allowed us to see the future of autonomous driving in China. If BAT can achieve great success in the field of autonomous driving, the biggest beneficiary automakers will be domestic brands. They can use BAT's research and development results in China to equip various models with autonomous driving, which is both convenient and cost-effective.

But BAT is not the only company on the road of autonomous driving. Chip giants Qualcomm and Nvidia have been approved by California to test autonomous vehicles. Google's fully autonomous vehicles have already been driven in Phoenix, Arizona. Tesla also recently released the Autopilot 2.0 system, and fully autonomous driving is just around the corner. In addition to them, many established OEMs have also set their sights on the big cake of autonomous driving. Audi's autonomous driving system has been equipped on Audi's flagship sedan, the fifth-generation A8 model. Volvo's flagship models XC90 and S90 have also picked up the sword of autonomous driving. In addition, in the Mercedes-Benz factory, the new Mercedes-Benz S560 4Matic also drove 1.5km in the factory area.

Judging from the current situation, BAT's technological level is still far behind them. How to improve the competitiveness of their products, stand out and become the preferred autonomous driving supplier of major OEMs is an issue that BAT needs to think about seriously in the future.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.