dkrc Chapter 145 Signing Ceremony
Chapter 145 Signing Ceremony
The demonstration was eleven days earlier than Zuo Cheng had anticipated.
Two weeks ago, Wei Dongsheng sent a message saying that the board of directors had approved the suggestion to accelerate the cooperation. They did not intend to wait for the three-month demonstration to end, but hoped to conduct a closed-loop demonstration at their test site in advance. If the results met expectations, they would directly enter into contract negotiations.
When Zuo Cheng told Shen Yiming the news, Shen Yiming was silent for three seconds before saying, "Okay, let's move it up."
Those were two intense weeks. Shen Yiming's team expanded from six to eleven people, and the newly recruited engineer, who had experience with LiDAR sensing, was put in a key position the very next day. Every night, the server room lights stayed on until two or three in the morning, sometimes even until dawn.
Fang Ze practically lived in the lab for those two weeks. He wasn't a talkative person, but a few days after get off work, Zuo Cheng passed by and saw him disassembling several sensor boards, laying them out on the table, and recalibrating and resoldering them one by one. The meticulousness he displayed suggested he was doing something he felt was worth taking seriously.
On the day of the demonstration, Zuo Cheng, Shen Yiming, and Fang Ze drove to Wei Dongsheng's car company's closed test track in the suburbs. The test track was an oval track with several inner loops simulating city roads, covering a total area of about eighty acres. Inside the track were pre-set pedestrian models, cyclist models, simulated traffic lights, and several remote-controlled ghost cars specifically for testing emergency scenarios.
Wei Dongsheng and Vice President Bao were already waiting there. There were two other people that Zuo Cheng didn't recognize standing next to them. Wei Dongsheng gave them a brief introduction: one was the company's vice president in charge of intelligent business, and the other was their legal director.
Zuo Cheng understood; this was not just a demonstration, but a formal review.
Shen Yiming rechecked the test vehicle's systems, whispered a few parameters to Fang Ze, then nodded and walked to Zuo Cheng's side, saying, "It's ready."
The test vehicle slowly drove into the inner ring road.
The first segment simulated a city road scene. A pedestrian model suddenly stepped out from the right, and the test vehicle completed its deceleration judgment and came to a smooth stop within 0.08 seconds. Vice President Bao whispered something beside him, but Wei Dongsheng remained silent, his eyes fixed on the car.
The second segment was a nighttime simulation. The test track lighting was turned down to the lowest level, and the test vehicle switched to low-light fusion perception mode and continued to move smoothly. When it encountered a remote-controlled ghost car suddenly cutting across, the steering decision was clean and crisp, without any delay or shaking.
The third segment was a rainy day scenario, with a film of water on the ground and several irregular obstacles in front. The test vehicle entered the scene at a speed of 35 kilometers per hour and passed through without any contact.
The test ended, and the room was quiet for a few seconds.
Wei Dongsheng walked towards the test vehicle, circled it, squatted down to examine the sensor layout, and stood up without speaking immediately. Vice President Bao whispered beside him, "The behavior logic in rainy conditions is far more stable than our self-developed version."
Shen Yiming, standing next to Zuo Cheng, pulled up the data recorded throughout the entire test and whispered, "The system made its decision on the most difficult bend in 0.06 seconds, which is 1 millisecond faster than our last test."
Zuo Cheng didn't say anything, he just nodded to Shen Yiming.
Wei Dongsheng walked over, patted Zuo Cheng on the shoulder, and said only one sentence: "Better than I expected."
Three days later, contract negotiations were held in the conference room at Wei Dongsheng's auto company headquarters. Both teams, accompanied by lawyers, talked from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM, with only a 40-minute break for lunch. The core terms were a technology licensing model: 402 would provide an intelligent driving perception fusion system and V2X communication modules, with the other party paying a technology licensing fee based on the number of vehicles installed. The fee would be 800 yuan per vehicle after the first model's launch, with an estimated installation volume of no less than 1 million vehicles over the 5-year agreement period. An advance payment of 300 million yuan was required, to be received within 30 days of the agreement's signing.
The contract text was finalized at 5:20 PM. The final point of contention at the negotiating table was the technology export restriction clause. The two sides argued for nearly forty minutes before finally reaching an agreement: 402 would retain the right to iterate the algorithm, would not sign an exclusive license agreement, and the other party would give 402 priority in negotiating the selection of intelligent suppliers for the next generation of vehicles. Zuo Cheng felt that this outcome was the best result he could accept.
The signing ceremony was not a big affair. Zuo Cheng, Han Lu, and Chen Hao were from 402, while Wei Dongsheng, Vice President Bao, and the Legal Director were from the other side. Both parties signed the contract, exchanged copies, shook hands, and took photos together.
The camera flashed a few times, then the photographer left, leaving only the two people in the room. Han Lu quietly mouthed something to Zuo Cheng: "What's the final figure for this contract?" Zuo Cheng nodded at her and lightly patted the contract cover, meaning: "It's settled, a good result."
Wei Dongsheng placed the contract in front of him, his hand resting on the cover. He looked at Zuo Cheng and said, "Mr. Zuo, I've met quite a few intelligent technology companies. Some of them do a really good job, but when they meet me, they either exaggerate their abilities or are afraid to answer technical questions directly. You are the first company that makes me feel that your technology and people are a perfect match."
Zuo Cheng said, "President Wei is one of the few decision-makers I've met who asks about technical details to that depth."
Wei Dongsheng smiled, a genuine, unpretentious smile.
Han Lu whispered to herself, "How about we have dinner to celebrate tonight?"
Zuo Cheng shook his head and said, "I still have things to do when I go back."
He was telling the truth. The 3 million prepayment means an extra 3 million in working capital, but it also means that 402 must complete the automotive-grade certification of the entire system within the timeframe stipulated in the agreement. The 18-month certification timetable begins today; the countdown has started.
This number wasn't a burden to Zuo Cheng; it was an anchor point. Things with clear timelines felt more reassuring to do. What he feared most were things with no deadlines, things that could be postponed indefinitely—those were the easiest to wear down a person.
Stepping out of the parking lot, a cool night breeze blew in from the streets of Hangzhou. The city lights illuminated the surroundings, and the traffic continued, bustling and noisy.
Chen Hao got into the passenger seat, closed the door, and said, "Boss, is this the biggest deal 402 has made so far?"
Zuo Cheng started the car, glanced at the road, and calmly said, "It's settled. But not the last one."
Chen Hao smiled, fastened his seatbelt, and said nothing more. Having followed Zuo Cheng for so long, he probably knew that when Zuo Cheng said "this isn't the last deal," he wasn't just boasting, but genuinely already thinking about what the next deal would be.
The car headlights illuminated the road ahead, stretching far into the distance.