Chapter 517: Intelligent Driving

On April 16, 2010, at the Wanshang Automotive R&D Center in Shenzhen, thirty brand‑new Fenghuang brand intelligent cars lined up in a single file on the test field.

The silver‑white bodies gleamed in the sun, and the phoenix emblem on the hoods was a whole ring larger than a conventional badge—something He Xiao insisted on changing, "We need people to recognize at a glance whose child this is."

He Xiao stood at the front of the line, holding a Fenghuang Fifth Generation phone. The screen displayed streams of data: each car's battery level, tire pressure, system self‑check status, Beidou signal strength…

"Final self‑check," He Xiao said into the Intercom.

The thirty cars' hazard lights flashed on simultaneously, then off together.

Three seconds later, the Intercom emitted orderly replies:

"Car 1 normal."

"Car 2 normal."

"Car 3 normal."

……

"Car 30 normal."

He Xiao took a deep breath and said a single word into the Intercom:

"Go."

The thirty intelligent cars started simultaneously, without a hint of sound.

This is one of Wanshang Automotive's proudest technologies—pure electric drive. The motor goes from standstill to full output in just 0.01 seconds, faster than any combustion vehicle.

The convoy exited the R&D center and turned onto Shen Nan Avenue.

He Xiao sat in the lead car, his hands off the steering wheel.

The indicator on the dashboard shifted from red to green, and a gentle female voice announced, "Intelligent driving mode activated, wish you a pleasant journey."

He Xiao turned his head and glanced at Li Yaozong in the passenger seat.

Li Yaozong also kept his hands off the wheel, staring at the road ahead.

"Nervous?" He Xiao asked.

Li Yaozong shook his head.

He Xiao replied, "Not nervous. It's them who are nervous."

He Xiao pointed toward the window.

On Shen Nan Avenue, drivers of other cars turned their heads, looking at this odd convoy.

Thirty cars formed a neat line, each driver's hands off the wheel, yet they moved faster and steadier than anyone else.

Some pulled out phones to take pictures, some rolled down windows to shout, others simply slowed to follow and watch the spectacle.

He Xiao smiled.

"Tomorrow the news will have it," He Xiao said.

The convoy's destination was the Guangzhou‑Shenzhen Expressway entrance.

This was the most critical segment of the road test—highway intelligent driving.

He Xiao tapped "Highway Mode" on the central console screen.

The system began automatically planning the route, scanning surrounding vehicles, and adjusting speed. The steering wheel turned slightly on its own, aligning the front toward the toll booth.

ETC sensed, and the barrier lifted.

The thirty cars entered the highway in a single file.

Speeds of sixty, eighty, one hundred, one hundred twenty km/h.

He Xiao glanced at the rearview mirror. The cars behind followed obediently, keeping a safe distance, the formation unchanged.

"How's the platoon system?" He Xiao asked.

A technician's reply came through the Intercom.

"All cars' following‑distance error is within 0.5 meters, response time zero delay," the technician reported.

He Xiao nodded.

He Xiao glanced at Li Yaozong.

Li Yaozong stared at the road ahead, but a faint, barely noticeable smile tugged at his mouth.

The road test lasted a full eight hours.

From Shenzhen to Guangzhou, Guangzhou to Dongguan, then back to Shenzhen—a total of five hundred kilometers, traversing city streets, highways, tunnels, bridges, toll stations, and service areas.

All thirty cars suffered no faults.

At six p. m., the convoy returned to the R&D center.

He Xiao stepped out of the car and was immediately surrounded by a group of engineers.

"Chief He, the data's back!"

"Intelligent driving has accumulated 472 hours of operation, zero accidents!"

"Automatic parking tested 230 times, success rate 99.1%!"

"Automatic maintenance system raised 27 alerts, all accurate!"

He Xiao listened to the reports, his face expressionless.

After everyone finished speaking, he finally spoke.

"What about the 0.9?"

The engineers were momentarily stunned.

"What 0.9?"

"There's a 0.9% failure in automatic parking," He Xiao said. "What was the situation for that instance?"

A young engineer flipped open the logbook.

"It was an extreme case. The parking spot was too narrow, twenty centimeters narrower than a standard spot. The system judged it unsafe to park and voluntarily aborted," the engineer explained.

He Xiao nodded.

"That's right. If you can't stop, then don't stop; it's stronger than a hard stop."

He patted the engineer's shoulder.

"Next time this situation arises, the system should proactively alert the driver and suggest finding another parking spot."

The engineer quickly wrote it down.

A week later, a thick report was delivered to Li Yaozong's desk.

The cover read: "Wanshang Intelligent Car Technology Verification Report."

Li Yaozong opened the first page.

"Intelligent Driving System: cumulative test mileage 53,000 km, top speed 140 km/h, minimum following distance 2.3 m, longest continuous autonomous driving time 4 hours 20 minutes. Conclusion: meets mass‑production standards."

Page two.

"Automatic Parking System: cumulative tests 3,700 times, successes 3,663 times, success rate 99.01%. All failure cases have been analyzed and optimized. Conclusion: meets mass‑production standards."

Page three.

"Automatic Maintenance System: cumulative alarms 723, accuracy rate 100%. Parts QR‑code recognition rate 100%. Conclusion: meets mass‑production standards."

Page four.

"Safety Standards: Tested by the National Automotive Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, Wanshang Intelligent Car's safety indicators all surpass current national standards. Recommendation: Upgrade the Wanshang standard to the national recommended standard for intelligent cars."

Li Yaozong stopped when he saw this page.

He looked up, staring at He Xiao standing opposite.

"National recommended standard?"

He Xiao nodded.

"People at the inspection center said our system is far more advanced than their existing standards. We might as well use our standard as a template; all future intelligent cars can follow it."

Li Yaozong was silent for a few seconds.

Then he smiled.

"You've done something big."

To bring Wanshang cars into the European and American markets, Li Yaozong arranged for He Xiao to take the new car to the international auto show.

September 2010, Frankfurt.

The 64th Frankfurt International Motor Show, the world's largest automotive event.

He Xiao stood behind the booth, looking at the sea of people before him, feeling a bit dazed.

Wanshang's booth wasn't in the best spot, tucked in a corner of Hall 4. Yet at this moment, the corner was packed to the brim.

Germans, French, British, Italians, Americans, Japanese… people of all skin tones and languages crowded together just to glimpse the few intelligent cars that came from China.

On the booth, five Phoenix brand intelligent cars were lined up. The one in the middle was the flagship, with a silver‑white body, streamlined design, and an enlarged Phoenix logo on the front that stood out under the spotlights.

Beside it stood a huge display screen looping road‑test videos.

In the video, the driver's hands left the steering wheel as the car overtook, changed lanes, and parked on its own, ending with a female voice saying, "Intelligent driving mode activated, wish you a pleasant journey."

The crowd periodically burst into exclamations of awe.

"Dasistunglaublich!" (This is too incredible!)

"Unbelievable!"

He Xiao didn't quite understand the languages, but he could read the tone.

It was a tone of astonishment.

A gray‑haired German elder pushed to the front and leaned against the car window to look inside.

He Xiao walked over and asked in English.

"Sir, would you like to come in and sit?"

The elder lifted his head.

"Is that okay?"

He Xiao opened the car door.

The elder sat in the driver's seat, grasped the steering wheel, then released it. He looked at the icons on the instrument panel and lightly tapped the central console screen with his finger.

The screen lit up.

The elder was momentarily stunned.

"Is this… touch‑controlled?"

He Xiao nodded.

"Full touch control. All functions are inside."

The elder flipped through a few pages and saw the "Intelligent Driving" icon.

He clicked into it.

The screen displayed a line: "Please bind a Phoenix account first."

The elder looked up.

"What is a Phoenix account?"

He Xiao smiled.

"It's our user system. In China, two hundred million people use it."

The elder was silent for a few seconds.

Then he got out of the car and shook He Xiao's hand.

"Young man, you have done well."

He Xiao looked at his cloudy yet sincere eyes.

Thank you.

At 3 p. m., a long line formed in front of the exhibition booth.

Everyone was there to sign letters of intent.

He Xiao's fifty contracts were all distributed in less than two hours. He sent people to copy them immediately, handed out the copies, then copied again, and handed those out as well.

By 5 p. m., the letters of intent had exceeded three thousand.

He Xiao looked at the countries on those orders: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea…

He suddenly recalled a line Li Yaozong said three years ago.

"One day, Wanshang Motors will be on roads worldwide."

Now, that day has arrived.

At 7 p. m., He Xiao returned to the hotel.

As soon as he entered, his phone rang.

It was Li Yaozong.

"How's today going?"

He Xiao flopped onto the bed.

"We have 3,200 letters of intent. Over a hundred contracts signed. The booth is packed to the brim."

"Tomorrow will be even livelier."

He Xiao was stunned for a moment.

"What does that mean?"

"Check the news."

He Xiao turned on the TV and switched to CNN.

On the screen, a blonde female reporter stood in front of the Wanshang booth.

"…This is today's biggest surprise at the auto show—Wanshang Motors from China. Their autonomous driving technology left every visitor stunned. A German automotive engineer told me he has been in the industry for thirty years and has never seen technology this mature."

The footage switched to a shot of He Xiao shaking hands with that German elder.

"Wanshang Motors' head He Xiao said they are willing to share the technology with global peers and jointly advance the development of autonomous vehicles."

He Xiao watched the TV, a little bewildered.

"When was this filmed?"

Li Yaozong laughed on the other end of the Telephone.

"The reporter followed you for a day; you didn't know?"

He Xiao scratched his head.

"I was too busy to notice."

The next day, the media exploded.

The front‑page headline of the Frankfurt Report read: "Wolf Is Coming—China's Autonomous Cars Shock the Auto Show."

The Picture Gazette was even more blunt: "German Engineer Stunned: How Did the Chinese Do It?"

The UK's Financial Times said: "Wanshang Motors: From Follower to Leader."

The United States' Wall Street Journal ran the most sensational headline: "Detroit, Beware—Chinese Cars Are Coming."

He Xiao spent half an hour in the morning scrolling through news, all about Wanshang.

He sent Li Yaozong a message:

"Did you arrange this?"

Li Yaozong replied:

"I assigned the reporter, but the script was written by them themselves."

Germany's Spiegel published a long article titled: "Behind Chinese Cars Is the Shadow of the State."

The article said that Wanshang Motors' autonomous driving technology is so mature because it received support from the China Government. The Beidou Navigation System, national road‑testing data, policy incentives… all of these are unavailable to foreign car companies.

The article concluded: "This is not fair competition; it is a state action."

Fox News in the United States followed up with an even more direct headline: "Chinese Cars—Would You Dare to Buy?"

In the program, a so‑called "expert" ranted endlessly about the "safety risks" of Chinese cars, saying the autonomous driving technology "could be used by the China Government for surveillance."

The UK's Daily Mail focused on Wanshang Motors' batteries, claiming "Chinese battery technology is lagging and could explode."

He Xiao frowned as he read these reports.

He called Li Yaozong.

"President Li, did you see it?"

"Seen."

"What should we do?"

Li Yaozong smiled on the other end of the Telephone.

"What should we do? Keep exhibiting."

He Xiao was taken aback for a moment.

"But they…"

"They can say whatever they want."

"Why are our cars being smeared? Because they're technologically advanced, threatening foreign automakers; we don't need to care about them."

He paused.

"He Xiao, remember. Public opinion is something that gets hotter the more it's stirred. The more they criticize, the more people learn about us."

The next day, the line in front of the booth was longer than the previous two days.

He Xiao stood in the crowd, hearing someone discuss.

"Have you seen that article in Bright Mirror Weekly? It says this car has national security issues."

"I've seen it. But so what? As long as the car is good."

"Germans are just sour. If they can't make it themselves, they say others have problems."

"I test-drove it yesterday; it's really awesome. That automatic parking—one try, perfect, better than my parking."

He Xiao listened to these words and suddenly felt that Li Yaozong was right.

Public opinion, the more it's stirred, the hotter it gets.

The louder the criticism, the higher the attention.

The higher the attention, the more people want to come see it themselves.

The more people who want to come see it, the more orders there are.

This is a cycle.

A virtuous cycle.

On the fifth day, the auto show closed.

He Xiao carried a thick stack of contracts and boarded the flight back to China.

On the plane, he flipped through those contracts, page by page.

Europe orders: 8,700.

North America orders: 5,200.

Asia orders: 3,800.

Other regions: 1,100.

Total: 18,800 intent orders.

He closed the contracts, leaned back in the chair, and closed his eyes.

Images from these past days flashed in his mind:

That German old man's shock.

The excitement of those lining up to sign contracts.

The media's smearing.

The onlookers' discussion.

He suddenly laughed.

Laughing and laughing, his eyes felt a bit sore.

18,800 orders.

This is just the beginning.

Back in Shenzhen, it was already the afternoon of the third day.

He Xiao had just walked out of the airport when he was surrounded by a group of reporters.

"General Manager He, are the orders from the Frankfurt Auto Show real?"

"General Manager He, foreign media say your intelligent driving technology has safety hazards; what do you think?"

"General Manager He, what are Wanshang Automobile's next plans?"

He Xiao looked at those microphones and cameras, suddenly recalling what Li Yaozong said.

"Public opinion, the more it's stirred, the hotter it gets."

He cleared his throat.

"The orders are real. The safety hazards are false. The next step's plan is to let more people drive Wanshang automobiles."

After saying that, he squeezed out of the crowd and slipped into the car that had come to pick him up.

Arriving at the company, Li Yaozong greeted him.

"Next, there's something even happier."

He Xiao looked at him.

"What is it?"

Li Yaozong took out a document.

"This is from the National Intelligent Automobile Standards Committee."

He Xiao took it and looked.

It read:

"After review by the National Intelligent Automobile Standards Committee, it was decided to upgrade Wanshang Intelligent Automobile Technology Standard to the National Intelligent Automobile Recommended Standard. Effective immediately, all intelligent automobiles sold within China may refer to this standard for implementation."

He Xiao finished reading and was stunned for several seconds.

Then he raised his head.

"This..."

Li Yaozong nodded.

"You did it."

He Xiao opened his mouth but said nothing.

He lowered his head and looked over the document again.

That night, He Xiao went alone to the automobile R&D center.

The test field's lights were still on. Those thirty test vehicles were neatly parked at the edge.

He walked up to the lead vehicle, reached out and touched the enlarged phoenix emblem.

Metallic, cold, hard.

He recalled three years ago, Li Yaozong asked him: "What do you think our car will be like in five years?"

He said then: "I think driving will become another kind of experience. Not tiring, but enjoyable."

Now, three years have passed.

What he said has all come true.

Moreover, it's better than he imagined.