Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

239: Chapter 239 Xingchen Automotive’s ”Declaration of the Future”10:30 AM, same stage, the lights shifted.

As the three Red Flag models slowly drove off the stage, the atmosphere at the venue had reached a boiling point.

But suddenly, a countdown lit up on the big screen:

”Time until Xingchen’s debut: 00:05:00”

Five minutes.

The music shifted from impassioned to ethereal, the kind of soundtrack used in sci-fi movies when a spaceship sets sail, interwoven with synthesized electronic sounds and the faint noise of celestial bodies in motion.

The lighting changed from warm to cool tones, with silver-blue beams crisscrossing the stage, creating a sci-fi atmosphere reminiscent of a space capsule.

The audience gradually quieted down.

Everyone knew that Xingchen was the ’jewel in the crown’ of the Morning Star group, a wholly-owned brand personally incubated by Su Chen.

The countdown hit zero.

The stage went completely dark, and a thin spotlight hit the side entrance.

Su Chen walked out.

He wasn’t wearing a suit jacket today; instead, he wore a simple white shirt with black dress pants, his sleeves casually rolled up to his forearms.

This attire didn’t make him look like a car company boss, but rather like a tech founder from Silicon Valley.

But the moment he stepped onto the stage, the eyes of all three thousand people in the audience were fixed on him.

This was presence—no words needed, no actions needed; just standing there, he was the center of attention.

”Red Flag is responsible for defining the present,” Su Chen began, his voice calm yet every word clearly audible, ”and Xingchen is responsible for creating the future.”

The big screen behind him lit up with the Xingchen logo: not a literal star, but a nebula in the process of forming, dynamically rotating as if gestating something.

”What is the future?” Su Chen asked himself, then answered, ”Is it faster speed? Longer range? Or a bigger screen?”

He shook his head. ”None of those. The future is that a car is no longer just a car, but a mobile intelligent space.”

The curtains on both sides of the stage opened simultaneously.

Two cars slowly drove out.

Xingchen S1: The ’L4 Autonomous Driving Production Car’ starting at 350,000.

On the left was the Xingchen S1, a streamlined coupe.

The design language completely overturned tradition: there was no front grille; the front of the car was a single smart surface capable of displaying patterns, text, or even expressions. There was no B-pillar, and the front and rear doors were suicide doors that opened like wings. The windows extended from the roof down to the lower part of the doors, making it almost entirely glass.

But the most stunning part was the interior.

Su Chen sat in the driver’s seat, and the door closed automatically.

Inside the car, there was no traditional dashboard; instead, a holographic display interface was projected onto the bottom of the windshield. The center console was a single curved OLED screen extending from the driver’s seat to the passenger side. The steering wheel was rectangular, looking more like an airplane control stick. The seats had a floating design, as if they had grown out of the floor.

”The Xingchen S1 is priced from 350,000 to 550,000, depending on the configuration,” Su Chen said. ”You can check the specifications on the screen yourselves; I will only say one thing—”

He pressed a button.

The steering wheel slowly retracted, folding into the dashboard.

”Today, what we are demonstrating is not L4 autonomous driving in a lab, but L4 that is already mass-produced and on the road.”

The audience was in an uproar.

L4 autonomous driving means that under limited conditions, the vehicle can drive completely autonomously without the need for human intervention.

No car company in the world has dared to claim that their mass-produced cars are equipped with true L4—even Tesla’s FSD is only L2+, requiring the driver to be ready to take over at any time.

”I know you don’t believe it,” Su Chen smiled. ”So, we will demonstrate it live.”

The big screen switched to a six-way split screen:

Main view: External follow shot

Secondary view: In-car driver’s perspective

Third view: Overhead shot from the roof

Fourth view: Autonomous driving system perception screen

Fifth view: Visualization of system decision logic

Sixth view: Remote monitoring center

”Route: Depart from Gate 3 of the exhibition hall, turn right onto Convention Road, merge onto Riverside Avenue, drive for 3 kilometers, then take the frontage road, do a loop, and return to the exhibition hall parking lot.” Su Chen set the navigation. ”The total distance is 5.2 kilometers, passing through 8 traffic lights and 12 pedestrian crossings, with moderate traffic density.”

He pressed the ”Start Autonomous Driving” button.

The vehicle began to move on its own.

First, it drove out of the exhibition hall: it identified the electric door, waited for it to open, and passed through smoothly.

Then it hit the road: when merging onto the main road, the system first observed the vehicles behind it, waiting for a safe gap before cutting in.

Everything was normal, but the audience’s hearts were in their throats—this was on a real road, not closed off, with no cleared paths.

The first test came: a red light ahead.

The S1 began to decelerate 50 meters from the stop line and came to a smooth stop.

A taxi next to it rushed through the yellow light, but the S1 didn’t follow, waiting until the light turned green to start moving.

”Our system has one principle: safety takes precedence over efficiency,” Su Chen explained from inside the car. ”We would rather wait for an extra red light than risk rushing through.”

The second test: a pedestrian crossing.

A pedestrian walked halfway across and suddenly retreated. The S1 had already slowed down to yield, but after identifying that the pedestrian had retreated, it smoothly accelerated and passed through.

”The system can identify pedestrian intent,” Su Chen said, pulling up the perception screen. ”See that red box? That is the pedestrian trajectory predicted by the system. When the trajectory shows the pedestrian is going to retreat, the vehicle judges that it is safe to proceed.”

The third test: vehicle cutting in.

A van suddenly forced a merge from the right lane, its front already cutting in front of the S1.

If it were a human driver, they would either slam on the brakes or refuse to yield.

But the S1’s choice was: tap the brakes, yield half a car’s length of space to let the van complete the merge, and then change lanes to the left.

The whole process was smooth and fluid; no sudden braking, no honking, just like an experienced veteran driver.

”This is our ’Defensive Driving Algorithm’,” Su Chen explained. ”The system anticipates dangerous behaviors from other traffic participants and prepares for them in advance. Three seconds before that van merged, the system had already predicted its intention to cut in based on its trajectory.”

The fourth test: a complex intersection.

This was a five-way intersection with irregular traffic lights and non-motorized vehicles mixed in.

The S1 accurately identified the traffic signals in every direction, selected the correct lane, and avoided two electric scooters that ran the red light.

”The topology of this intersection is recorded in detail in our high-precision maps,” Su Chen said. ”But the system does not rely on high-precision maps—even without a map, it can navigate correctly through real-time perception, though the efficiency would be slightly lower.”

The final test: autonomous parking.

The vehicle returned to the exhibition hall and entered the underground parking lot. Su Chen set a target parking space: between two cars, with only 5 centimeters of clearance in the front and back.

The S1 began to reverse into the spot.

The audience saw through the in-car perspective that the steering wheel was turning rapidly on its own, and the vehicle backed into the spot at a perfect angle.

After it stopped, the measurement data displayed:

Left clearance: 5.2 cm

Right clearance: 5.1 cm

Front and rear clearance: 5.0 cm each

Perfectly centered.

Then the vehicle automatically shifted to Park and powered down.

The entire 5.2-kilometer journey took 18 minutes, with zero human intervention.

When Su Chen stepped out of the car, the whole audience stood up and applauded.

The applause was more enthusiastic than any before, because what everyone had witnessed was not just parameters or a demonstration, but the real future.

”The Xingchen S1 comes standard with L4 hardware across all trims,” Su Chen said, returning to the center of the stage. ”But software features will be unlocked in stages: the basic version includes L4 for highways and urban expressways; the advanced version adds L4 for complex urban areas; and the flagship version will also unlock ’Valet Parking’—you get out at the mall entrance, and the car goes to find a parking spot on its own.”

The price appeared on the big screen again: Starting at 350,000.

This price point directly invaded the territory of the Tesla Model 3 (starting at 360,000) and the Xpeng P7 (starting at 380,000), but offered cross-generational technology.

Musk was sitting in the audience watching the press conference, his face pale.

Tesla’s FSD Beta had not yet been approved in China, while Xingchen Motors’ L4 autonomous driving was already on the road being demonstrated.

Musk picked up his phone and called Tao Lin, the head of the Shanghai division: ”Investigate what Xingchen Motors’ L4 autonomous driving hardware solution is.”

A few minutes later, Musk received a reply text: ”LiDAR + cameras + millimeter-wave radar + ultrasonic radar, all developed in-house. Most importantly—they have obtained the L4 road testing license from the Chinese government, and the scope covers 50 cities nationwide.”

Musk was silent for a full three minutes.

Then Musk replied: ”Immediately prepare a capacity expansion plan for the China factory. Next year, we will launch a special edition Model 3 for the Chinese market, with the price lowered to under 300,000 and the range increased to over 800 kilometers.”

”But the cost...”

”Use cheaper lithium iron phosphate batteries, reduce configurations, and simplify the interior. Just secure the market share first.”

Tao Lin gave a bitter smile.

She knew what this meant: the era of Tesla’s premium pricing in China was over.

From today on, Chinese consumers had a real, high-end domestic choice, one that was cheaper and technologically more advanced.