Per reporter: Pei Jianru Per reporter Per editor: Sun Lei
Since entering 2022, the popularity of metaverse-related concepts has remained high, and the automotive industry has not been absent from this new outlet.
The "Daily Economic News" reporter found through the data of Qixinbao that a few days ago, Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Great Wall Motor) also submitted a trademark application for "Great Wall Meta Universe".
Image source: Kaixinbao
According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, before this, BYD, SAIC, FAW Group, Nezha Automobile, Ideal Automobile, Weilai Automobile, Xiaopeng Automobile, Geely Automobile and many other car companies have applied for trademarks related to the meta-universe.
"(BYD registered meta-universe related trademarks), mainly for the sake of trademark protection, there is no plan to carry out related business." The relevant person in charge of BYD told reporters.
An executive of a new energy vehicle brand told reporters: "As a large intelligent terminal, the car is born with the basis of immersive experience, and we are very convinced that the car will become one of the very important carriers of the metacosm. ”
Multi-brand preemptive registration of meta-universe related trademarks
Since the second half of 2021, the meta-universe concept has continued to be hot, from the pursuit of capital, to the entry of technology giants, to the surge of meta-universe concept stocks in the A-share market, games, social networking, short videos... The concept of metacosmonic products emerge in an endless stream, and for a time "everything can be metacosm".
It is reported that the so-called "meta-universe" is to create an immersive virtual space in which users can interact with cultural, social, and entertainment activities. According to IDC, a well-known market research institute, the average annual growth rate of the global virtual reality industry will reach 54% from 2020 to 2024. With the continuous development of new technologies, the virtual reality meta-universe related industries may usher in an outbreak.
In this context, many car companies have also begun to carry out meta-universe related layouts, and have preemptively registered trademarks. In January this year, Nezha Automobile affiliated company Hezhong New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. added trademark application information such as "Nezha Yuan Universe", "United Yuan Universe" and "Which Iron Universe", and the international classification involved advertising sales, scientific instruments, means of transport, etc.; at the end of last year, BYD registered a trademark named "BYD Meta universe", and the international classification of the trademark was a means of transport; in December last year, FAW Group also applied for the registration of multiple "metaverses", "METAVERSE" and "HQMETAVERSE". FMETAVERSE trademark, the international classification involves means of transport, advertising sales, etc.; in November last year, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. applied for the registration of the "Geometric Metacosm" trademark, which is internationally classified as a means of transport.
What's more, in October 2021, SAIC Motor applied for hundreds of meta-universe-related trademark categories in one go, including "Cheyuan Universe" and "Cheyuan Universe Z-UNIVERSE", covering many fields such as automobile research and development, production, manufacturing and sales.
The ideal car in "Wei Xiaoli" took action in September 2021, applying for related trademarks such as "ideal meta-universe", mainly used in electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, sports cars, RVs and bus vehicles, advertising, packaging design, transportation, clothing and toy cars.
In addition, Xiaopeng Automobile, Weilai Automobile and other enterprises have also registered meta-universe related trademarks. However, many enterprises also told reporters that the registration of meta-universe related trademarks is mainly for the purpose of trademark protection, and will not carry out related business for the time being.
Some car companies have begun to "test the waters"
While car companies are scrambling to register metaverse-related trademarks, some car companies have made more attempts, or launched a meta-universe virtual world, or incorporated the meta-universe concept into user operations.
On the eve of the Munich Motor Show last September, the BMW Group launched the meta-universe virtual world JOYTOPIA. Users do not need a username and password to enter the world of JOYTOPIA, enjoy concerts by well-known British rock bands, and actively participate in events through avatars.
"With JOYTOPIA, we've created our own metaverse, which shows that we're responding to customer demand for personalized experiences in the digital space." Stefan Ponikva, vice president of brand communication and brand experience at the BMW Group, said.
Hyundai Motor released its robot vision at CES 2022 held in January this year, including "Metamobility" that innovates and expands the user's mobile travel experience, the "Mobility of Things (MoT)" ecosystem that gives things mobility, and "intelligent robots" for humans. Among them, Metamobility means that smart devices are connected to the Metavalse (meta-universe) platform, and the scope of human mobility will be extended to the virtual world, where users can realize a new dimension of mobility experience.
Hyundai Auto believes that in this process, the application of innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and automatic driving will break the boundaries of future mobility, and various mobility modes such as automobiles, UAM (urban air travel) will become smart devices connecting the Metavalse (meta-universe) platform.
Focusing on domestic car companies, in August last year, Zhiji Automobile's CSOP "User Data Rights and Interests Plan" was named "Rough Stone Valley" and officially launched on the "IM Zhiji" App. According to the official introduction, users can develop rough stones, exchange ideas, upgrade equipment, and evolve vehicles here. The core of "Rough Valley" is the 300 million rough stones linked to the 4.9% stake of Zhiji Automobile, 70% of which users can obtain through "Libo Mining", and "rough" can be used to exchange for various hardware or OTA services.
Image source: Zhiji Auto Official Micro
Not only that, "Rough Stone Valley" is positioned as a value community in the future form, and the further goal is to create its own "meta-universe". In the future "Rough Stone Valley" secret space-time of Zhiji Automobile, each owner will have a mapped virtual car. Virtual cars and real cars are interrelated and affected, some driving behaviors and special data of real cars will affect the characteristics of virtual cars, so as to gradually develop a unique virtual car; conversely, the ability of virtual cars to develop, such as better hardware or software services, can be used as the upgrade direction of real cars. Zhiji calls this "twin entanglement".
"The metacosm is undoubtedly a very important track in the future, and in the era of artificial intelligence, everyone is both a creator, a sharer, and a user. The car's future perception system will become stronger and stronger, the computing power will become stronger and stronger, and its ability to entangle real and virtual will become stronger and stronger. In the future, the real and virtual worlds must be blended, and through CSOP, users can embrace the dividends of the times with us. Liu Tao, co-CEO of Zhiji Automobile, said in an interview with reporters.
In addition, Changan Ford, Changan Auchan, etc. have also played a meta-universe signboard in product or brand promotion.
Will it become a new retail marketing tool for automobiles?
In fact, the industry generally believes that the enthusiastic attitude of car companies to the concept of meta-universe is mainly based on the layout of the future and the broad market space.
Gartner, a third-party research firm, released its latest forecast report, saying that by 2026, 25% of people will work, shop, study, socialize or play in the metaverse for at least one hour a day. "By moving from digital business to meta-universe business, businesses will be able to expand and strengthen their business models in unprecedented ways. By 2026, 30% of the world's organizations will have products and services for metacosmity. Marty Resnick, vice president of research at Gartner, said.
Ma Tianyi, a researcher at Minsheng Securities, believes that the metacosm can deeply empower Industry 4.0, provide digital support for automobile manufacturing, and also bring new incremental demand in the field of display. With the vigorous development of new energy vehicles, automobile manufacturing has gradually moved towards platformization, modularization and intelligence. The main links of automobile manufacturing are expected to be empowered through the metacosm, simplifying the process and controlling the main links to improve efficiency.
Image source: Visual China
At the same time, in Ma Tianyi's view, with the advancement of the meta-universe in the automotive industry, the future intelligent cockpit will accelerate penetration, the total size of the vehicle equipped with the screen will become more and more obvious, the on-board display products will be gradually migrated from LCD to Mini-LED, and under the resonance of three factors, the cockpit field of C-end automotive products will open up an important incremental space for screen display-related products.
"The metaverse is a social space, but it is also a web tool. After the car company lays out in the meta-universe field, it can obtain users and fans, and in the future, these users and fans can also be converted into potential customers. On the other hand, the metacosm can also provide entertainment, business and office functions, which will also be closely connected with the car after the realization of autonomous driving in the future. Car companies can lay out in advance, and can take the meta-universe concept as a product highlight to attract consumers to buy cars, so as to achieve sales increases. Then the car company layout in advance, it can also be used as a product highlight to attract consumers to buy new cars and increase sales. Zhang Xiang, an automotive analyst and researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, told reporters.
In Zhang Xiang's view, on the one hand, the metacosm can provide an ecosystem for intelligent networked vehicles, and on the other hand, it can also be used as a marketing tool for new retail. "Now an important profitable marketing point of new retail is to acquire users and fans. After having more fans, it is easier to carry out low-cost marketing. At present, many of the characteristics of the metacosm are similar to social platforms such as Weibo and WeChat. Therefore, after the car companies lay out this field, they should also do content to attract the attention of more users. Zhang Xiang said.
As more and more car companies begin to exert their fists and feet in the meta-universe field, what kind of sparks will collide with the "car + meta-universe"? The industry will continue to pay attention.
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