In the competition among automobile manufacturers, technological competition is essential. In order to maintain their technological advantages, automobile manufacturers even apply for patents globally. Some of these patents are design patents, some are material patents, and some are technology patents. Most of these manufacturers mainly apply for technology patents, but rarely apply for design patents. Therefore, in the early years of the development of China's own brands, so many "copycat" cars appeared. Because foreign manufacturers did not apply for design patents, it is not illegal even if self-owned brands are copycats.
Now that the new energy era has arrived, technological competition among car manufacturers, especially new car manufacturers, has become even more important. Because most of the new car-making companies are asset-light models, with relatively few assets such as factories, land, and buildings. The most valuable thing, or the thing that can support the stock value, is only patented technology.
Among them, Tesla, NIO, and Li Auto, these new car-making companies, all have many unique technologies. Even Jia Yueting's Faraday Future has a lot of technology, otherwise there wouldn't be so much capital investing in it to continue its life.
There is a very attractive news recently, which is Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s remarks on Twitter. Said that "Xpeng Motors used an old version of Tesla's software and also stole Apple's code."
The words "stealing technology" are really eye-catching, so for a while, Xpeng Motors has been pushed to the forefront.
Coincidentally, at the 2020 Guangzhou Auto Show, He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xpeng Motors, announced that Xpeng Motors' next-generation autonomous driving software and hardware system will be significantly upgraded. It also brings improvements in many aspects including control domain integration, computing power level, high-precision positioning, and perception fusion capabilities.
At the same time, in 2021, Xpeng Motors will take the lead in launching the world's first mass-produced smart car equipped with lidar. At this stage, lidar can effectively improve the high-precision recognition performance of vehicles, cover more and more detailed usage scenarios, and effectively support the implementation of low-speed NGP functions in future cities.
Xpeng Motors has just completed its press conference, and Elon Musk criticized Xpeng Motors for stealing technology. This really makes Xpeng Motors quite ugly. However, Xpeng Motors has not been idle. Chairman He Xiaopeng stood up immediately and said, "Starting from next year, you must be mentally prepared to be beaten by us when it comes to autonomous driving in China." He was also bluntly criticized. go back.
Did Xpeng Motors steal technology?
In fact, Xpeng Motors and Tesla have been arguing about technology for a long time. The main reason is that Xpeng Motors poached some employees from Tesla when the company was in its early stages. These employees may have come with some of Tesla’s technology. This incident made Elon Musk very unhappy.
Now, Elon Musk once again tweeted to attack, if there is evidence, why doesn’t Tesla sue directly? Wouldn't it be better to resolve it through legal means? Tesla did not do this. It is probably because Elon Musk himself could not find any evidence and simply used Twitter to complain.
Can Xpeng Motors surpass Tesla in autonomous driving?
He Xiaopeng said, "You have to be mentally prepared to be beaten by us for autonomous driving in China." I believe this, because Xiaopeng has more things needed for autonomous driving in China than Tesla. Advantages. For example, in terms of maps, Xpeng Motors, as a local company, can better cooperate with companies such as Baidu and AutoNavi, and cooperate with iFlytek for voice control, which Tesla cannot compare with.
Secondly, if self-driving cars are to be truly realized, actual road testing is required in the early stage. At present, China has only opened up a few manufacturers to allow actual road testing of driverless cars. Among them, SAIC and NIO are the first batch of intelligent connected vehicles to open road test license plates, which means that their intelligent connected vehicles are qualified for on-road testing. Tesla is lagging behind in autonomous driving, at least on Chinese roads.
So I believe He Xiaopeng’s words, that is, in terms of autonomous driving in China, Tesla is not as good as Xiaopeng.
Elon Musk has actually felt the pressure from new car-making forces!
In fact, from Elon Musk’s criticism of Xiaopeng for stealing technology, I believe Elon Musk has already felt the pressure. New energy vehicles are developing rapidly, and Tesla started early. Some advantages have been established. As time goes by, domestic new car-making companies have developed rapidly. Weilai, Ideal, and Xpeng each have their own unique advantages, and they are forming an encirclement against Tesla. As time goes by, costs will decrease, and domestic new car manufacturing companies will definitely have more advantages in cost control. By that time It is still unclear how long Tesla can continue to sell well. So Elon Musk is really anxious.
However, Elon Musk’s criticism of Xiaopeng for stealing technology should serve as a warning to independent brands. That is to apply for a patent quickly. In the future, whether it is the domestic market or the estimated market. There will definitely be a patent war between the new independent brand car manufacturing companies and Tesla. Just like the global patent war between Apple and Samsung back then!
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.