Data chart: A car show attracts people to visit and buy. Photo by Chen Chao
China-Singapore Finance, March 9 (Ge Cheng) Internet companies are busy building cars, car companies are busy building mobile phones, and the word "cross-border" is no longer new. Some people joked: "The end point of mobile phone manufacturers is to build cars." "What kind of disputes are hidden behind these phenomena?
Two-way "cross-border" between the Internet and car companies
In the 2021 annual work summary report recently released on the official website of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, Baidu Car has completed the industrial and commercial registration of "Jidu Technology Co., Ltd." in Beijing and set up a headquarters in Yizhuang. It is reported that Baidu will enter the automotive industry as a vehicle manufacturer, and Geely Holding Group has become a strategic partner of the new company.
Jidu CEO Xia Yiping said: Jidu Automobile has completed the visual and functional design of the automotive robot concept car, and it will arrive as scheduled in April. The first concept car will be unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show, which opens in April 2022.
In addition to Baidu's Jidu, Xiaomi, which has attracted much attention, has also accelerated its pace in the field of car manufacturing. After Lei Jun, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, announced in a high-profile manner that he would invest tens of billions of dollars to enter the field of car manufacturing, there were frequent actions. From registering a company to recruiting people, to determining a self-built factory, step by step. The Xiaomi Automobile Majuqiao Manufacturing Base, located in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, is already under intensive construction.
While Baidu and Xiaomi stepped up their entry into the game of car manufacturing, some car companies announced that they had entered the field of mobile phone manufacturing. In September 2021, Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, officially announced his entry into the mobile phone field.
Recently, rumors about NIO's entry into the mobile phone field have also continued, although NIO insists that there is no information to disclose at present, but it has frequently released positions related to the mobile phone business on the recruitment platform, including BSP engineers, Android system engineers, communication test engineers, imaging chip design engineers, etc.
NIO intensively publishes positions related to the mobile phone business on the recruitment platform
In fact, there is a precedent for car companies to manufacture mobile phones, but most of them stay at the OEM level. Wang Chuanfu, executive director of BYD Co., Ltd., has publicly stated: "We have a lot of mobile phones, and most of Huawei mobile phones are made by us." ”
All in order to build an ecological chain moat
When talking about why mobile phones are manufactured, Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, said: "Mobile phones are rapid iteration of portable mobile terminals, and are application carriers for electronic product market verification and software innovation, which can not only allow users to share innovative results as soon as possible, but also transfer a safe and reliable part of the results to the application of cars, so as to achieve close interaction between car machines and mobile phone software technology." ”
In the process of transforming traditional cars into intelligent and connected vehicles, the importance of ecology is self-evident, and mobile phones and cars can become the entrance and terminal on the ecological chain. Cui Aiguo, chief software architect of the smart car solution BU of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., said: "The automotive industry is facing change, and with the popularity of smart cockpits, users can have a better experience in the enclosed space inside the car. ”
Cui Aiguo believes that "the software of smart cars will gradually move towards the platform + ecological model, and the future cooperation model is a platform + ecological cooperation model centered on the depot, and gradually move towards the platform + openness to bring more openness and innovation." ”
In terms of ecological chain control, chen hong, chairman of SAIC Motor, made a very representative speech. In response to questions from shareholders, he once said that if a company provides us with a holistic solution, then it becomes the soul and SAIC becomes the body. For such a result, SAIC is unacceptable and must take the soul into its own hands.
Whether or not to fully control the automatic driving technology is a "soul torture" for traditional car companies, and for the entire ecological chain to change owners, the anxiety of car companies is increasing day by day. In this regard, Li Shufu has repeatedly emphasized: "In the future, it has become a major trend to build a user ecological chain across borders and build a moat for enterprises according to law. ”
It can be seen that Internet companies are building cars or car companies are making mobile phones, which seem to be focusing on each other's products, but in fact, they are competing for the relevant ecological chain. From this point of view, car companies are defending, and Internet companies are attacking, the entire ecological chain, who can become the final winner? (End)