Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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Many people came to the hearing site one after another.
According to the industrial layout, these people were naturally divided into two distinct camps, one belonging to the conservatives and the other belonging to the newcomers.
Traditional car manufacturers sat on the left side of the venue, while emerging car manufacturers and automotive software companies that had entered the field of driverless cars sat on the right side.
The two sides looked at each other across the aisle, with humble smiles on their faces, but sharp swords in their eyes.
This hearing would determine the life and death of these two factions. If the government insisted that driverless technology was not yet mature and should be temporarily withdrawn from the market, then emerging automobile manufacturers and automobile software development companies that had invested a lot of research and development funds but had not been able to obtain any commercial benefits would suffer huge losses.
If the government continued to support the research and development and promotion of driverless cars, traditional car manufacturers would fall into a state of slow decline due to their late start, low-end technology and slow transformation.
To put it more bluntly, today’s hearing was a game between two factions, and it was also a moment that determined the life and death of many manufacturers.
Seeing Zhuang Li leading a group of senior executives into the venue, traditional automobile manufacturers waved to him and motioned for him to sit over.
While the representatives from car software development companies gave him hostile looks.
It was because of this person that the once thriving smart car industry had suddenly entered an unprecedented winter! Zhuang Li was able to easily defeat Eugene with a QR code and point out that Eugene’s most fatal weakness was his perception defect, so he must be an expert in technology.
“He is a technical person, but he abandoned the technology with his own hands. How sad!” The CEO of an automotive software development company shook his head and sighed at the engineer next to him.
“I don’t understand what Mr. Zhuang is thinking. If it weren’t for him, our industry wouldn’t have suffered such a devastating disaster.” The engineer took off his glasses and shook his head helplessly.
They understood long before they came that the outcome of this hearing would not be favorable to the New Faction.
The person who presided over this hearing was Zong Zhengming, who was a well-known hawk who never wavered in his ideas for anyone or anything. So far, none of the reforms and policies he wanted to promote have been left unimplemented.
In all likelihood, this hearing was just a formality, and the government would ultimately reject the market status of driverless cars.
The corporate representatives sitting on the right looked at each other, all with bitter smiles on their faces.
Just then, Zhuang Li walked towards them, pulled out a chair and sat down in the middle of the first row.
Seeing his actions, there was an uproar at the scene.
“Mr. Zhuang, are you sitting in the wrong seat?” Someone waved from the opposite side.
Zhuang Li just took out a cigar, put it in his mouth, and smiled meaningfully.
Everyone was a little confused and didn’t know what he meant.
Even Zhuang Han, who was hiding in the crowd and preparing to listen to the meeting in a low-key manner, couldn’t help but stick his head out and look at Zhuang Li across the crowd, his eyes full of astonishment.
With the help of Zhuang Jincheng’s connections, Zhuang Han was able to enter the venue to get information. After losing Cambrian, he still had a car manufacturing plant, so he naturally chose the left camp.
He thought Zhuang Li would be the same, but he didn’t expect that the other party actually chose the new school.
What was Zhuang Li up to? What was going on in his head? He knew that Zong Zhengming intended to cancel the sales qualification of driverless cars, so why did he support the right side? Wasn’t he afraid of losing all his money? By the way, did he take away Cambrian in order to develop the market for driverless cars?
Why was he always so bold?
These questions gave Zhuang Han a headache.
Just at this moment, Zhuang Li’s eyes suddenly met his, but he was not surprised at his appearance at all and just looked away casually.
Zhuang Han smiled gently at his brother, but when he lowered his head, a strong sense of unwillingness welled up in his eyes. He didn’t know since when, in Zhuang Li’s eyes, he had become an insignificant person.
“Mr. Zhuang, we are all working on driverless cars here. Do you want to change positions?” The boss who had previously mocked Zhuang Li asked in a low voice.
“I’m also working on driverless cars.” Zhuang Li finally gave a definite answer.
So everyone sitting around him was surprised. They turned their heads to look at him, then looked away and whispered to the people around them.
Mr. Zhuang is so bold! He actually chose this opportunity to enter the field of driverless cars! Is he out of his mind?
Is this fake? He must have sat there to find out what was going on! Some people also thought so.
However, after the hearing began, when Zong Zhengming asked everyone to raise their hands to vote on whether to cancel the sales qualification of driverless cars, Zhuang Li actually raised his hand and said, “I think you shouldn’t.”
There was silence at the scene, and everyone’s eyes turned to him.
Zong Zhengming also stared at him intently and said in a deep voice: “Give me a reason.”
“Mr. Zong, do you know how many people die in car accidents every year around the world?” Zhuang Li asked instead of answering.
Zong Zhengming looked at the secretary beside him. The secretary wiped the sweat from his forehead and began typing on the computer.
This was a question that needed to be checked now.
Zhuang Li didn’t even give them time to react, and said directly: “Every year, 1.2 million people die in car accidents, which is equivalent to the damage caused by 10 Hiroshima-level bomb explosions.”
“Cars, as a means of transportation, are causing more horrific casualties than drugs, and this is happening every year.”
“In our country alone, the number of people who die in car accidents every year is as high as 100,000. But have government departments around the world ever considered banning the sale of cars?” Zhuang Li curled the corners of his lips and looked at the podium with a smile.
Zong Zhengming was stumped by the question, and the officials sitting around him looked at each other, unable to answer.
Zhuang Li asked again: “Mr. Zong, do you know how much damage has been caused by hackers invading the Internet around the world?”
Zong Zhengming looked at the secretary beside him again.
The secretary’s forehead was covered with sweat. Who would check these data as if they had nothing better to do?
As usual, Zhuang Li did not give them a chance to copy the answer and quickly said, “It is 450 billion US dollars, and it is the same every year. It will even surge to over one trillion next year. Its destructive power is equivalent to a global natural disaster.”
Zhuang Li slowed down his speech and asked again, “But which country would want to ban the sale of computers?”
Zhuang Li stood up from his seat, walked to the center of the conference room, looked around the room, spread his hands, and asked with a smile: “Look, no country has banned the sale of cars or computers. So why should we ban the sale of driverless cars?”
“If this technology matures, it will reduce the number of car accident deaths worldwide by more than 90%. It has certain flaws and there is no way to completely prevent car accidents, but as long as it can truly save more lives, truly benefit mankind, and truly change society, it should have the right to survive.”
“In the 1970s, the Soviets believed that it was a false proposition to bring computers to every household, so they completely missed the information age, and were eventually overtaken by the United States and collapsed.”
“Some of us may resist the development and adoption of a technology, but if it is a technology that can bring about world-changing changes, it will rise quickly.”
“Smart people will embrace it with joy, while foolish people will reject it with disdain, and eventually be rejected by it and then by the whole world.”
Zhuang Li looked straight at the rostrum and asked, “Mr. Zong, you don’t want China to repeat the mistakes of the Soviet Union, right?”
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