March 26, Monday, one o'clock in the morning.
New York John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Zhao Chen and Zhang Qingxue arrived at New York on time. The night wind in New York was much colder than that in Shan City.
He wrapped his coat tightly, looked at the row of yellow taxis outside the airport, and took a deep breath.
His shoulders were a little stiff after more than ten hours of flying, but he was in good spirits.
Zhang Qingxue was walking next to him, dragging his suitcase in his hand with a calm expression.
"Zhao Zong, the car has arrived." Zhang Qingxue glanced at the phone and pointed in the direction of the parking lot.
A black SUV stopped on the side of the road. The driver, a Chinese, got out of the car and helped them put their luggage into the trunk.
Zhao Chen got into the car, leaned on the seat, and looked at the street lights passing quickly outside the window.
The skyline of Manhattan is vaguely visible in the distance, and the spire of Empire State Building is lit with white lights.
He took out his cell phone and looked at the time - one twenty-three in the morning.
Beijing The time is 1:23 pm, Chen Xi should be having lunch.
He didn't send a message and put his phone away.
When the car drove past Queens Bridge, Zhao Chen looked at the East River outside the window. The lights of Manhattan were reflected on the river, like broken gold.
He closed his eyes and thought about tomorrow - getting jet lag and then going to see Elon Musk.
For Era Vanguard to participate in SpaceX financing, he does not need anyone's authorization, he only needs to ensure that Fund Path is clear.
100 million US Dollar can be easily withdrawn from Era Vanguard's account.
Arriving at the hotel, Zhang Qingxue checked in.
Zhao Chen's room is on the 26th floor, and the window faces the south side of Central Park.
He stood in front of the window and looked at the huge darkness in the park for a few minutes. Then he closed the curtains, took a shower, and lay down on the bed.
The bed was very soft, and the pillow smelled like Lavender. He turned over, still thinking about the numbers in his mind--
Tesla 16.6 million shares, cost 292.8 US Dollar, what is the current price?
When he left the country, the stock price of Tesla had rebounded to around 275.
It continued to rebound for a week, rising from 252 to 275, an increase of 9%.
During his absence, the market digested the news reported by Era Vanguard 13G, Short Sellers began to close positions, and bulls slowly entered the market.
Zhao Chen closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.
March 27, Tuesday, noon, Manhattan goes to the city.
When Zhao Chen arrived, Elon Musk was already there.
This time there was no Lin Shicheng, no Zhang Qingxue, just two people sitting opposite each other at the window seat of Private Club.
The Hudson River outside the window shone like gold in the afternoon sun, and there were a few more sailboats on the river than last week.
Elon Musk was wearing a black T-shirt, his hair was messier than last time, and there was a cup of cold coffee in front of him.
"Is there any problem with the financing?" Elon Musk leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands behind his head.
Zhao Chen nodded.
"Era Vanguard, no problem here. 100 million US Dollar, based on the valuation of 21.5 billion. The funds can be available at any time."
Elon Musk looked at him and raised the corners of his mouth slightly. "You move very quickly."
Zhao Chen picked up the water glass and took a sip. "The window of opportunity is short, so hurry up."
The two were silent for a few seconds.
The sunlight outside the window shone in through the glass window, casting a golden strip of light on the table. Elon Musk put down his hands, leaned forward, and his eyes became serious.
"Zhao, what do you think of Autonomous Driving?" he asked suddenly.
Zhao Chen was stunned for a moment.
He did not expect that Elon Musk would ask this question on this occasion.
He thought for a moment and didn't answer directly, but asked a question instead.
"Are you referring to the technical route or the commercialization time?"
Elon Musk said, "Tell me everything."
Zhao Chen leaned back in his chair and organized his words.
Previous Life He has read countless analysis articles about Tesla Autopilot. From technical route to hardware iteration to data accumulation, he is familiar with every article.
But facing Elon Musk himself, he can't give it away like an endorsement, he has to use his own logic to say it.
"Let's talk about the technical route first." Zhao Chen spoke,
"There are two main directions in the industry now.
One is the LiDAR school represented by Waymo, which uses multi-sensor fusion and high-precision maps to achieve L4 in one step.
The other one is Pure Vision Approach represented by Tesla, with the camera as the main camera, Millimeter-Wave Radar as the auxiliary, slowly climbing up from L2."
Elon Musk said nothing, but his eyes did not leave Zhao Chen's face.
Zhao Chen continued:
"You choose pure vision, not because LiDAR is not easy to use - it is indeed easy to use, has high precision and is not affected by light - but because its cost structure is unsustainable.
A 64-Line Velodyne LiDAR costs 70,000 to 80,000 US Dollar, which is more expensive than a Model 3.
Even if the cost drops to a few hundred US Dollar in the future, there is still a problem with its underlying logic - it is using expensive hardware to make up for the shortcomings of the algorithm."
Elon Musk's eyes lit up. "Have you studied the cost structure of LiDAR?"
Zhao Chen nodded.
"I have studied Velodyne's 64-Line LiDAR. The cost in 2018 is about 75,000 US Dollar.
16-Line is cheaper, costing 4000 US Dollar. The one used by Waymo, a set of LiDAR alone costs tens of thousands US Dollar.
This cost can be installed on a test vehicle, but no one can afford it on a mass-produced vehicle."
He paused and his voice slowed down a bit.
"But the cost is just an appearance. The deeper problem is - if Autonomous Driving relies on LiDAR, it is equivalent to relying on a hardware threshold that can never be lowered.
Every car needs to be installed, and every car costs thousands or even tens of thousands US Dollar.
This threshold will limit the popularity of Autonomous Driving.
The strategy of Tesla is to install the hardware into the car first, so that all cars have cameras, and then use software upgrades to realize Autonomous Driving.
By the time the software can run smoothly, the fleet will already be in the millions.
Waymo's data accumulation is at the million-mile level, and Tesla's data accumulation is at the billion-mile level.
This gap cannot be caught up with LiDAR."
Elon Musk leaned on the back of the chair, his hands no longer crossed, but placed on his knees.
His posture was completely relaxed, as if he had met someone with whom he could talk.
This feeling made him very comfortable.
For his madness, Zhao Chen not only gave financial recognition, but also real understanding.
This is something other investors don't have.