The curtain came down on Dec 10 on the 'Global Competition in Automotive and Mobility' Chapter at WIM 2020. Entrepreneurs and investors gathered to discuss new industry opportunities brought by digital transformation in the intelligent vehicles, and investment opportunities against the backdrop of ‘New Infrastructure.’
On December 9-12, EqualOcean was holding the World Innovators Meet (WIM) 2020. This year, the event's main topic was 'Technology and Innovation Connect the World.' WIM2020 gathered innovators from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas to share their knowledge and key achievements, promoting the concept of 'Tech for Equal.'
For the 'Global Competition in Automotive and Mobility' Chapter, EqualOcean invited key speakers from some big names in the automotive industry, including Bosch, DiDi, GOFUN, Helloglobal, Newlink, Megatronix, Legend Star Capital and Black Sesame Technologies. Gathering at WIM2020, the speakers shared their insights on the outlook in the future development of global automotive industry.
Yongping Yang, the executive director of EqualOcean and president of EqualOcean Auto, talked about the industry trends in the future in his welcome speech. He claimed that in the next decade the automotive industry will focus on the market globalization, industry digitalization, product intelligence and brand light-packaging. He also introduced G.D.T.L., a brand-new concept framework purposed by EqualOcean that provides a new perspective to interpret the industry development.
Xing Meng, COO of DiDi Autonomous Driving Company, believed that there are three crucial factors in autonomous driving: data, travel ecosystem network and AI technology. According to Meng, the ability of autonomous driving and the safety level depends on data to a large extent. Nevertheless, data collection is still a problem that evades many companies. It requires a huge amount of data to deal with the possibilities in autonomous driving. Only is the technology integrated with data and ecosystem, the autonomous driving system can work successfully.
Speaking of the automotive market, Tao Jiang, the vice president of Helloglobal, claimed that the internet automotive service only serves a small group of people. The reason is that the typical taxi-hailing product, as one of the key products of automotive services, is too expensive to cover many people. He believed that in the future less expensive products will be developed with the technological support to serve more people.
Andrew Tan, the CEO of GOFUN, claimed that there are two major challenges for automotive driving companies. One is how to manage the drivers and their driving behavior after the vehicle is launched, the other one is how to effectively manage the vehicle assets. He believed that technology can help solve the two problems. With the integration of big data, blockchain and other technologies into the operation system of travel services, it is possible to build up an efficient travel network that can cover a larger part of the market.
Yang Wang, the co-founder and CEO of Newlink pointed out that digitalization can help solve the problems with China's energy industry. She pointed out the lack of a platform that can integrate and digitalize the energy industry. There are many opportunities in this vacuum, and the whole industry will be upgraded with digital transformation.
According to Li Zhuang, the present founder and CEO of Megatronix, user experience and digital technology decide intelligent vehicles. Car audio is one of the most important products in the automotive industry that can interact with customers. The latest technology can support intelligent products to provide customized services, helping customers throughout the whole journey.
During the panel discussion, four speakers from different companies gathered to talk about Investment Opportunities in Automotive Technology against the Backdrop of 'New Infrastructure.’
Speaking of the investment trends, Dylan Gao, the partner of Legend Star Capital, said that the market new energy vehicles (NEVs) is awaiting clearer directions. More specific divisions of the industry can help the whole market to thrive in the future.
Jennifer Jiang, the senior vice president of Bosch Chassis Systems Control China, claimed that it requires a joint effort from the whole industry, the support of relevant laws and regulations to drive the development of autonomous driving. She added that it is clear that the traditional supply-demand relationship in the automotive industry is shifting towards competition-cooperation relationship, which brings more opportunities than challenges.
Rock Yang, Chief Marketing Officer of Black Sesame Technologies, said that it is the worst time – yet also the best time – for the automotive market. From his perspective, the market is expecting a high-performance computing platform, which can be regarded as a great opportunity. Yang believes the market opportunity can be caught by companies who stick to their core competencies.
About WIM
Hosted by EqualOcean, the World Innovators Meet (WIM) (click to watch the online event on December 9-11, 2020) is a global event for innovators. It provides limitless opportunities to learn from and connect with the most sought-after technology pioneers.
About WIA
The World Innovation Awards (WIA) are announced at WIM to recognize game-changers across various industries and geographies. Selected by a committee of distinguished experts, entrepreneurs and investors, WIA are designed to acknowledge technology disruptors striving to make a positive impact on a global scale.
See this year's WIA lists and download the research reports in English and Chinese on EqualOcean and 亿欧智库 respectively.