(I just wrote about driverless taxis yesterday. Today at the Baidu conference, Mr. Li said that driverless taxis in the future will be half cheaper than taxis now. Brothers, reality is more magical than fiction. I really don’t dare to write a novel that’s half as cheap, otherwise I’ll be criticized.

Miserable, the dog’s head saves his life.JPG)

Two days passed in a flash.

Two days later, Hu Lai received a call early in the morning. It was from the city leader Gao Ming himself.

"Hello, Mr. Hu?"

"Haha, hello, leader."

Hu Lai was quite surprised to receive a call from Gao Ming early in the morning. He looked at the time and it was only 7am.

Gao Ming personally called so early. Could it be because of the "unmanned automatic taxi" matter that was submitted two days ago?

"It's like this. Didn't you submit a plan for commercial operation of 'autonomous taxis' to the city two days ago? After the city held an emergency meeting in the past two days, preliminary results were obtained."

"I will come to your headquarters with the leaders of the Traffic Management Office in a while. There are still some details that need to be communicated with you."

"The results will be available so soon?"

Hu Lai was a little surprised. It took only two days for the plan to be submitted, but he didn't expect to receive a reply so quickly.

"Haha, Mr. Hu, you Phoenix Group is now a star enterprise in our mountain city. Your business demands are taken very seriously by everyone in the city, and we must solve your problem quickly!"

"We are doing practical things for enterprises."

Hu Lai was very polite, but I have to say that the government's efficiency has indeed improved a lot in recent years.

After hanging up the phone, Hu Lai drove to the office without further delay.

I had just arrived a few minutes ago, and after waiting for the meeting room to be arranged, Gao Ming and several city leaders arrived soon after.

The two have always had a good relationship. After a brief greeting, everyone came to the reception room.

After everyone sat down, Gao Ming took out two draft plans and handed them to Hu Lai and Director Zhang who were attending the meeting, and said:

"The city has already discussed the 'unmanned autonomous ride-hailing' project proposed by our Phoenix Group. Our mountain city has always been positioning itself as a smart city, a 5G city, and this project is also in line with our city's image."

"And, in other words, our Phoenix Group is now a star enterprise in our mountain city, and we must give our full support to it."

Several leaders in the group all smiled in unison, and what Gao Ming said was indeed the truth.

In the past two years, the GDP growth rate of Shancheng City has been the highest in the country, and it largely relies on the Phoenix Group in front of us.

The Phoenix Group not only created a large number of jobs and high taxes, but also single-handedly attracted many suppliers to invest and build factories in Shancheng City.

Suppliers build factories and invest in land, which not only increases the city's fiscal revenue, but also increases local jobs. Now most of the labor force in many surrounding counties and districts who go to the coast to work is willing to stay. If there are people, there will be consumption.

These people have also promoted the economy of mountainous cities.

It is no exaggeration to say that Phoenix Group is like the economic engine of Shancheng City, directly allowing Shancheng City's economy to take off.

Who wouldn’t support such a company?

Everyone chuckled, making the atmosphere more relaxed. Gao Ming also laughed and said:

"In principle, we have approved the 'unmanned autonomous online ride-hailing' project. Next, the city will improve relevant policies and regulations as soon as possible. You must also ensure safety issues."

"Also, after all, this matter involves the livelihood of many people. While it is still in the preparation stage, we can appropriately spread the word on the Internet and listen to the opinions of netizens."

"We can't just think based on our own heads, we must listen to the voice of the masses. Many times the masses of the people have great wisdom."

"good!"

Hu Lai responded immediately, with a smile on his face.

He did not expect that the policy issue of "unmanned autonomous online ride-hailing" would be solved so easily. In this way, with the precedent of Shancheng City, there will be precedents to follow for subsequent promotion in other cities.

But before Hu Lai could be happy for too long, Gao Ming suddenly looked at a staff member next to him and said:

"Zhou Bureau, can you explain the details?"

"OK."

Director Zhou was the accompanying leader of the Traffic Management Bureau. He smiled at Hu Lai first, and Director Zhang nodded, and then said:

"Mr. Hu, Mr. Zhang, there are about 8,000 taxis operating in our mountain city every day, and the total number of online taxis is close to 15,000."

"After evaluation, we believe that if your 'unmanned autonomous online ride-hailing' enters the market in large numbers, it will definitely cause vehicle saturation in the market and cause market chaos in the short term, so what we mean is to give your company a quota of 1,500 vehicles in advance.

, what do you think?"

"Fifteen hundred vehicles?"

Seeing Hu Lai's strange expression, Director Zhou thought Hu Lai was dissatisfied and quickly explained:

"Mr. Hu, because 'unmanned autonomous online ride-hailing' is a new product, we are not sure how big an impact it will have. We are worried that investing too much will cause a lot of unemployment and even have a social impact..."

"However, you can rest assured that once the market matures and everyone accepts this new product, the quantity will definitely be adjusted."

Hu Lai immediately understood that Bureau Zhou had misunderstood. When discussing with Song Yang yesterday, he was worried that investing too many vehicles would have a great impact on the market.

Unexpectedly, the city directly adopted a quota method, but this can control the risk of "unmanned autonomous online ride-hailing" to the greatest extent.

After thinking for a moment, Hu Lai and Director Zhang looked at each other, then nodded and said:

"Okay, then thank you leaders for supporting us!"

“We’ll come down with the specific pricing plan and operational details, and we’ll ask the leaders to check them after we’ve done it.”

Hu Lai's words made all the leaders feel relieved, but just when Hu Lai thought that the meeting ended happily in a friendly and warm atmosphere, Gao Ming coughed lightly and suddenly said:

"Mr. Hu, I saw your new mobile phone product launch conference some time ago. It was very good!"

"On the way here today, I checked the sales volume. JD.com alone has orders for almost one million units, which is really good!"

Hu Lai was stunned for a moment, but he didn't expect Gao Ming to be paying attention to the current situation of the Phoenix Group.

He smiled and said a few words of modesty, then heard Gao Ming continue:

"Now the whole country is moving its manufacturing industry to the west. Mr. Hu, your mobile phone sales are good, and your laptop computers are also selling well. Have you considered setting up an electronics factory in Shancheng City that assembles mobile phones and laptop computers?"

"I have learned that the technical requirements for mobile phone assembly plants are not very difficult, and the academic requirements are not high. I believe it should not be a big problem for you, right?"

Hearing this, not only Hu Lai was stunned for a moment, but also Factory Director Zhang on the side was stunned.

Fortunately, Gao Ming saw Hu Lai's surprised look and added:

"Of course, this is just an idea of ​​mine, and the city will certainly not forcefully interfere with your normal operations."

"I was thinking that if you set up a mobile phone assembly factory, it would provide a lot of jobs for the people in our mountain city."

Only then did Hu Lai suddenly realize that Gao Ming had come in person so early in the morning just for this matter.

Just in time to take advantage of the fact that the group's "unmanned autonomous online ride-hailing" project needs the city's approval, we proposed setting up an electronics assembly plant...

Hu Lai didn't want to offend Gao Ming, so he had to turn his head to look at Director Zhang and asked:

"Old Zhang..."

Before he could finish speaking, Director Zhang shook his head and said immediately:

"Mayor Gao, actually we considered producing laptops ourselves when we were producing laptops."

"but……"

"The OEM business is indeed as you said. It is not technically difficult and is a labor-intensive industry, but the profits are very low."

"For example, Foxconn's net profit in 2021 is only 4.5%, while BYD's mobile phone business, which we cooperate with, has a gross profit of 7.57% and a net profit of less than 5%."

"It can be said that the mobile phone OEM business is actually hard money. If you want to make money, it depends on which company can reduce costs more. This cost naturally includes the labor cost of squeezing workers..."

"We believe that we cannot compare with the industry's leading companies in this aspect, and it is a loss-making business for us; and most importantly, this kind of operating method is completely contrary to the corporate culture of our Phoenix Group!"

After a moment, Gao Ming couldn't help but nod.

"really."

"Phoenix Group has always been known for its high welfare benefits, which are among the best in the entire mountain city. It is indeed different from the low-profit profit model of foundries."

After finishing speaking, Gao Ming took a deep breath and said slowly after thinking for a long time:

"I'm sorry, Mr. Zhang, when you said that, I realized that I didn't think carefully. I understand your difficulties, but the suggestions I made were a bit reckless."

"I'm thinking that many of the labor force in the towns and villages around our mountain city have left their hometowns to work, leaving their mothers and young children at home. If the city can provide them with more jobs, they can make money and take care of their families, that's not it.

The best of both worlds.”

"Also, the 'unmanned autonomous online ride-hailing' you mentioned will inevitably squeeze out more ordinary people's living positions in the future..."

"That's why I thought of raising this matter, but you also have difficulties, and it's not easy for you either."

Hu Lai was moved for a moment, and he could see that the wise leader is someone who really wants to do things, and he is a leader who truly cares about his father and fellow villagers.

After a while, he looked at Director Zhang again and asked in a low voice:

"Lao Zhang, can we..."

Hu Lai and Director Zhang already had a tacit understanding, and they immediately understood what Hu Lai meant, but he still shook his head helplessly.

"Boss, Mayor Gao actually doesn't need to bring it up."

"We have always tried to expand the scale of recruitment as much as possible, but currently according to our order volume, all production lines are already full, and there are only a few technical positions that are vacant..."
To be continued...