That winter, cold waves came frequently.
But Du Ruo's memory of the turn of winter and spring of that year was particularly warm and clear.
In the first three months of the new year, their life can be summed up in two words: test drive.
From the snow-capped hills to the muddy land in spring rain, from the complicated urban roads to the winding mountain roads, Prime No.3 has been flying all the way, performing perfectly, and with several perfect adjustments by the Prime team, the functions have improved by leaps and bounds.
In that season, everyone's hearts were hot and hot.
The cold winter seems to pass overnight, and the world will soon be full of spring again.
At the beginning of April, the withered look of Beijing disappeared, and the whole city from the center to the suburbs took on a new look.
The willows on both sides of the street are green, and the pear blossoms are blooming all over the mountains.
At this time, at the foot of the Badaling Great Wall, the 4th World Driverless Car Rally Championship kicked off.
Beijing 2024, here we come.
The competition brings together 20 teams from 15 countries around the world, all representing the highest level of autonomous driving research in each country.
The competition will be broadcast live globally on TV and the Internet. Media reporters also came from all over the world to report on the event.
That morning, the starting point of Badaling was crowded with car fans watching the race. The colorful flags were flying and the voices were loud.
The interview corridors in the media area were even more bustling, with long guns and short guns.
Due to the reason of the home field, the domestic media present occupied half of the country, surrounding Dong Cheng and the Pengcheng team for interviews and speeches.
In the past few months, Pengcheng's publicity activities have been one wave after another, the stock price has skyrocketed, and the public has paid attention to it, as if they are waiting for Pengcheng to win the championship at home.
On the other hand, Prime didn't disclose any news during this period, and the whole team kept a low profile.
Jing Ming and the others did not stop for a moment, walked through the interview channel and entered the arena.
On the road, I accidentally ran into a group of people from the American AD team.
In Shenzhen that year, the champion and runner-up in the first racing competition met again.
The two teams were very pleasantly surprised and had an enthusiastic exchange. AD was the last rally champion, so the goal of this trip is naturally to defend the title.
Jing Ming also said with a smile without humility, Prime is the champion.
People from the two teams laughed heartily, wished each other good luck, and looked forward to the outcome of the contest.
At nine o'clock in the morning, the opening ceremony took place. The host introduced the participating teams and the race itinerary to the car fans present and the car fans on the global TV network.
The first day of the race is the shortest, 490 kilometers, from Beijing to Hohhot, passing through cities, countryside, mountains and grasslands.
The 120-kilometer special stage is divided into four 30-kilometer sections.
The competition only records the time spent on special stages, but the participating teams must arrive at the start of the stage within the specified time, otherwise they will be penalized for extra time.
Teams that arrive at the starting point of the stage will form a group of four vehicles in the order of arrival, and time the stage.
The first special stage of today's race is in a mountainous area 50 kilometers away. The first section is a super difficult mountain road race.
The organizing committee's arrangement is also out of consideration for the ratings of the broadcast, and the intention is to quickly raise the audience's excitement and participation at the beginning of the game.
At around ten o'clock, the race is about to start.
There are 20 self-driving cars lined up in the open-air parking lot. Red, yellow, white, black, colorful.
Nowadays, unmanned driving is developing rapidly, which is different from Shenzhen at the beginning.
Many teams not only pay attention to practicality, but also pay attention to appearance.
Du Ruo generously glanced at the vehicles of other teams, and thought that their "Wei Yi" was the most glamorous!
Jing Ming walked to "Wei Yi" and took a look.
In front of the convoy, the sky is blue, and the aerial photography drone is being debugged and taken off.
On the horizon, the road winds and disappears into endless mountains along the majestic Great Wall. And the mountains are full of large tracts of white pear blossoms.
Holding his rearview mirror, he said softly, "Friend, the road ahead is all up to you."
He Wang Du Ruo and the others also gathered around, touched No.3's body, patted him twice, and cheered him on.
The race is about to start, and the staff directs the participating vehicles to enter the arena one by one.
Jing Ming looked at Du Ruo.
Du Ruo grinned and stretched out his right hand: "Come on, come on!"
How could Wan Ziang and the others laugh heartily.
Jing Ming put his left hand on Wei Yi's body, and his right hand covered the back of Du Ruo's hand. Then, He Wang put his hand on it, and Tu Zhiyuan, Zhu Tao, and Wan Ziang put their hands on it one by one.
Ten hands pressed together tightly.
The ten young people looked at each other and smiled in unison. Spring is here and the sun is shining.
They pressed their palms down hard:
"Prime GO!"
"come on!"
Prime No.3 officially debuts.
In the eyes of the audience, he slowly drove out of the parking lot together with other vehicles and set off on the journey, with the Prime characters on the car flying domineeringly.
Twenty cars stopped at the starting point one by one.
At ten o'clock in the morning Beijing time, the world was completely silent.
At the sound of an order, twenty unmanned off-road vehicles set off from the foot of the Great Wall at the same time.
Viewers around the world watched the victory live on TV and online—
20 cars, through the windows, the driver's seat, co-pilot, and back seat are empty. But this group of cars seemed to have eyes, chasing each other without colliding and galloping along the road.
In the traffic flow, the blue and white color contrast design of Prime No.3 is particularly eye-catching.
There is no timing for non-special road sections, just rush to the competition area within the specified time. So the competition between the teams is not fierce. The commentary of the game commentator is also smooth and steady, with various introductions and small laces.
However, in order to enter the next stage of the competition as soon as possible, and to avoid accidentally injuring themselves when competing with poor-quality opponents, some teams will strive to grab the first group of competitions.
Prime No.3 is one of them.
Jing Ming and others, as well as Chunhe's engineers and logistics personnel including Yang Shu, Chen Xian, and Yi Kun, allocated four off-road vehicles and followed the driverless convoy.
It can be seen from the live broadcast screen in the car that "Weiyi" is always in the first echelon, not fighting for but never falling behind.
On non-special road sections, most of the vehicles performed well without scratching or deviating from the road.
Even Pengcheng's car is doing well.
After more than forty minutes, Prime, AD, Pengcheng and a French team took the lead to reach the first special road section. Play in groups of four.
This section is a 30-kilometer mountainous road section, and it takes about ten minutes to run down at high speed.
With a few minutes of preparation time before the race, Jingming Duruo and others quickly did a simple inspection and maintenance of the car to ensure that there were no problems.
At this moment, the interest of the fans in the live broadcast room was raised.
Soon, the preparation time is over, and everyone is in position.
Game start!
The four cars rushed out of the starting line at the same time, leaving the string like an arrow.
Prime No.3 actually accelerates to 100km/h in 1 second, occupying the first position first. On the mountain stage, overtaking is quite difficult. The three cars behind were biting tightly like tails. The four cars are like snakes running fast, winding and speeding on the mountain road, chasing each other.
There are many corners on the mountain road, and No.3 seems to be overridden by a highly skilled driver. When encountering a corner, it will drift and turn, setting off a wave of leaves and sand flying all over the sky.
The AD team and the French team urgently started dust removal measures to ensure a clear view, but Pengcheng was not left behind and followed closely.
This is only the first stage of the competition, and according to common sense, there is no need to do your best.
But the red car of the AD team obviously locked Prime No.3 as the first competitor, and kept accelerating, trying to challenge him for the first position. But Prime No.3 is very smart, and successfully gets stuck again and again, making it impossible for AD to surpass.
Just when the two cars were competing with each other, Pengcheng took the opportunity to find an open space and got in. Seeing that he surpassed Prime No.3 by half a body, he was about to take the lead.
Prime No.3 noticed it instantly, and the speed soared to 210km/h in one second! He rushed to a position and stabilized the first place again.
The narrator exclaimed.
From the off-road vehicles behind each team, there were voices of astonishment in various languages.
This speed is too dangerous!
There is a sharp curve ahead.
Everyone raised their hearts and suspected that the Prime No.3, as an off-road vehicle, would not be able to grab the ground at this speed and would skid and roll out of the mountain road. Modi, grit splatter. In an instant, he turned the front of the car, stabilized the body, and sped away.
This performance made the narrator exclaim: "It's crazy!"
The barrage in the live broadcast room also went crazy.
And all the contestants were stunned:
What is a champion phase
This is.
Who would have thought that Prime, who had reached the top of the world six years ago and fell rapidly, would actually come back.
Appearing on the stage like a flash of lightning, without hiding the edge, arrogant, arrogant, opened the prelude to the fighting of this competition in an instant.
Prime No.3 raced all the way and crossed the finish line of the 30-kilometer section. It took 7 minutes and 38 seconds to break the mountain record of the previous three competitions!
In the off-road vehicle at the rear, He Wang excitedly turned around and raised his palm, and Du Ruoyang gave him a high five!
"Fuck!" He Wang Dashu felt sullen, and said happily, "I've been holding back for six years, fuck fuck fuck!"
Jingming complained: "The future is long, can you keep a low profile?"
"Go, you are the one in this car who is least qualified to be low-key!"
Everyone laughed, excited and relaxed.
Jing Ming suddenly said, "Pengcheng's car is very strange."
Du Ruo: "What's wrong?"
"I can't tell." Jing Ming frowned slightly, "The performance was much better than I expected. It shouldn't be."
"I discovered it too." Wan Ziang said, "It's like a world-class team."
"Forget it, just ignore him."
The remaining 16 teams lined up to start the race one by one, but all the audience were immersed in the game just now, unable to extricate themselves.
Even after the start of the second group stage, the narrator recalled with relish: "The first game can be recorded in the history of the event!"
After shining on the field, Prime No.3 has calmly set off at this moment, and went to the next stage without any surprise.
Due to the eye-catching performance of "Wei Yi", when he was driving in non-special stages, the broadcast screen kept showing him shots.
"I'll go." He Wang flipped through the live broadcast room on his mobile phone, "Up to now, the barrage is still full of Prime. We're going to be popular again."
Jing Ming sneered: "What should I care about this kind of person who comes at the moment of success and leaves at the moment of trough?"
He Wang raised his eyebrows, yes, no more comments and messages.
Du Ruo glanced at his side face, and while the others were not paying attention, touched his hand secretly to express comfort.
And he just complained, and didn't care in his heart. It was a little funny for a moment to be touched by her so secretly. He turned to look at her and asked in a low voice, "Are you tired?"
They have been bumping on the road for more than an hour.
Du Ruo shook her head: "Not tired."
"If you're tired, just sleep on my shoulder."
"Well."
He Wang interrupted: "Can I sleep on your shoulder?"
Jing Ming: "Get lost!"
After the four groups of competitions are over, the statistical results will come out, and the Prime stage will be the first.
Next, the second stage is a rural dirt road section, which tests the dust and sight problems during high-speed driving;
The third stage is the township gravel stage, which tests the wear and tear on the car body caused by bumps under high-speed driving;
Prime No.3 passed the test and won the first place in three consecutive stages.
Until the fourth special stage, grassland stage, something unexpected happened.
After five o'clock in the afternoon, after a day's trek, the convoy drove more than 400 kilometers in a row, and it was almost to Hohhot.
The grassland in spring is fresh green, and the shallow river is like a transparent ribbon shuttling through it.
The sun is about to set, and the sky is colorful.
AD, Prime, Pengcheng, and the catching up British team started the first group stage in the grassland area.
This section of the road tests the ability of line navigation and the ability to walk in shallow water.
There are no roads and no boundaries on the grassland. The 30-kilometer road is all planned by the GPS navigation inside the driverless car, and the best route is chosen by itself.
The grassland is extremely open, and the cars do not interfere with each other, and run quickly under their respective routes.
Under the aerial photography, the endless green field is so beautiful that the four cars pass through it like a small matchbox.
Soon, Prime No.3/"Dimension One" waded the last river smoothly.
With only three kilometers left, he and AD and Peng Cheng who arrived at the same time rushed up the gravel road at the end of the grassland stage. This time, he still accelerated to take the lead and took the lead.
AD and Pengcheng lined up left and right, chasing closely.
The commentator made a slip of the tongue in excitement, forgetting that there was still a group stage ahead: "Could it be that Prime won the first place in all stages today and set a new record? Will there be a miracle?!"
Everyone waited with bated breath.
Seeing that there was only the last kilometer left, the three cars galloped at high speed, but suddenly, an accident happened.
Pengcheng accelerated suddenly and hit the body of "Wei Yi".
Just heard a loud bang!
The rear door of "Weiyi" was hit with a dent, and the letter e of Prime was scraped off a big hole.
The commentator who was explaining passionately was startled, and suddenly lost his voice.
Fortunately, one second before the collision, "Wei Yi" detected the approach of the vehicle in advance and dodged it, with little damage. There was a bump in his body, he quickly stabilized and quickly adjusted, and then accelerated again to the finish line.
Still number one!
The live broadcast room was boiling again.
But everyone in the Prime team is angry.
Zhu Tao was so distressed that he died, and scolded: "Fuck me! Pengcheng's fucking car is also participating in the competition!"
He Wang: "I must appeal!"
Du Ruo was also so angry that his eyes were red: "Why do you always meet such a bad opponent?"
Jing Ming was silent for a moment, but said coldly, "The car hit him on purpose." . .
chapter 88
Everyone was stunned: "What do you mean?"
He Wang immediately raised an objection: "How is it possible? Pengcheng's artificial intelligence is so powerful? Have negative emotions, crash and retaliate?"
Wan Ziang: "Only with their abilities!"
Du Ruo analyzed: "Is there something wrong with the visual system of their car? Didn't see Weiyi?"
"It's not like." Jing Ming shook his head and played back the video with the remote control. "In the last three kilometers, it kept trying to overtake, which means it could see Wei Yi in front. It was approaching the finish line, and when it hit, it accelerated. It didn't accelerate forward, but In the direction of Weiyi. You see,... Isn’t this intentional?”
Everyone rewatched the video, sure enough.
Du Ruo was surprised: "It's like someone is sitting in a car to take revenge."
He Wang couldn't figure it out: "Pengcheng's artificial intelligence has reached this level?"
"Cut." Jing Ming sarcastically said, "None of the world's top teams has reached this level. Where did he get the ability?"
But even though there were doubts, he couldn't figure out what the problem was for a while.
There was silence in the car.
Outside the car window, the sun began to sink on the grassland, and the sky was filled with sunset.
A few hundred meters behind her, in Yang Shu's car, she was smoking a cigarette and looking out the window at the beautiful grassland.
After a while, look back.
After a tiring day, the engineers in the car were all in high spirits, discussing Chunhe Prime excitedly with their own sense of honor.
Yi Kun looked out the window calmly.
Yang Shu asked: "How do you feel about the game?"
Yi Kun: "He does have strength."
Yang Shu raised her eyebrows and looked at the setting sun in the west again.
They soon reached the end of the Hohhot stage.
"Weiyi" has already stopped at the finish line, accepting the cheers and applause from the fans of this stage.
When we set off in Beijing in the morning, all domestic eyes were on Pengcheng.
Arrived in Hohhot in the evening, all praises were given to Chunhe Prime.
Within a day, the limelight turned sharply.
Social media is maxed out.
Prime No.3/Weiyi has a big reputation.
He won all the first places in the four stages, and he completely stole the limelight on the first race day!
Beside the interview channel, the spotlights flashed, and the reporters stretched out their microphones and waited for the winner to speak.
But Prime refused all media interviews, walked through the aisle without looking back, left the outfield early, and went to the garage.
They followed "Weiyi" all the way, bumping from Beijing to Hohhot, and went through various difficult road conditions. At this moment, they are all covered in dust and exhausted. But they rushed to their friends immediately.
"Wei Yi" ran a distance of 490 kilometers, was dusty, covered in mud, and waited quietly for them.
When Jing Ming saw him, he didn't care about the mud on his body, and patted his car hood hard: "Thank you."
He Wang happily patted him: "Good performance, my friend!"
They pulled the water hose and rinsed "Wei Yi", from head to toe, even the seams of the tires were cleaned.
He Wang clicked his tongue a few times: "This level! One day, if you don't want to do this business, you can start a car wash shop together. The business is booming!"
Jing Ming disliked it: "I'm not in the mood to wash other people's cars."
Du Ruo agreed: "It's not bad that he didn't kick him. He lost it until he went bankrupt."
Jingming: "..." Youyou glanced at her.
She sticks out her tongue.
Everyone laughed.
After the car was washed, the damaged recesses on the car were repaired immediately, and then the whole body was inspected and repaired, lubricated and cared for, and took good care of it.
Du Ruo was so hungry that his stomach ached and he didn't care.
No one is slacking off.
Nearly two hours later, the team members went back to the hotel, cleaned up and went to the restaurant for dinner.
After eight o'clock, after the dinner time, most of the diners were contestants, and many came to congratulate. There are also occasional passers-by who look around curiously, seeming to recognize the celebrity who has become famous all over the country today.
Du Ruo kept swiping his phone while eating, the news media reported it extensively, and the attention on social networks was so hot that it even overwhelmed the recent celebrity marriage.
The compliments from the comments:
"Damn it, the Prime from back then is finally back! I've been waiting for six years! I was a graduate student back then, and now I'm running for three dogs! Really emotional, tears in my eyes."
"Claw upstairs, I am also a fan of their technology!"
"Jingming is the most handsome! I want to give birth to a monkey for him!"
"Prime is really awesome, black technology! Seeing that the father of the motherland is so powerful, I feel relieved!"
"I said that Pengcheng is a marketing product, Prime is the highest level of our unmanned driving!"
She pursed her lips and smiled while watching.
Jing Ming frowned: "Eat well!"
"Oh." She obediently put away her phone.
"no appetite?"
"I'm already hungry." Du Ruo frowned, "I don't seem to be hungry now."
"That also has to eat. Tomorrow will be more than 700 kilometers, and I will be even more tired."
"Oh. Then I'll eat some more." Du Ruo added another small spoonful of rice.
Go to Yinchuan from Hohhot tomorrow, and from Yinchuan to Xining the day after tomorrow...
All the way to the west, the desert Gobi, the road will be even worse.
Going upstairs after dinner, He Wang was so excited that he couldn't fall asleep until nine o'clock, so he suggested playing a game.
Everyone flocked to his and Wan Ziang's room. There were two beds and a sofa. They were lying sideways, holding their mobile phones and divided into two teams to start the fight.
Du Ruo is not very good at playing, so he ran around after Jing Ming.
At a certain moment during the game, Jing Ming suddenly stared at the phone and said, "Du Ruo!"
Du Ruo looked up: "Huh?"
"..." Jing Ming said, "It's okay."
She looked again, um, it turned out that she was beaten to death by He Wang.
Du Ruo: "..."
He Wang looked up from the phone and smiled: "I'm not going to kill you. Why don't you run away."
Du Ruo: "I didn't see you again."
He Wang: "You are so stupid to play games."
Du Ruo: "..."
Tu Zhiyuan: "What hope."
"what?"
"Jingming killed you."
"...fuck!" He Wang jumped up, "Zhu Tao avenges me!"
Zhu Tao: "I'm not your boyfriend."
"..."
Du Ruo quit after playing a few rounds, and ran to find some snacks;
Jing Ming stopped playing, and sat in front of the computer to watch the video replay of today's game.
He Wang and others are still fighting in the game.
Du Ruo ate the orange, and automatically slipped to sit next to Jingming and put a slice of orange to his mouth. He closed his mouth and stared at the screen.
She watched with him: "Are you looking for Pengcheng?"
"Um."
He tapped his fingers on the keyboard quickly, and the picture passed frame by frame. Suddenly, he tapped to pause:
"This drone..."
The broadcast images are from the perspective of the drone camera, which is lower than the car body, showing the intuitive effect of the tires rubbing the ground at high speed during the race.
There are nearly ten shooting drones flying in the sky, evenly distributed.
Jing Ming stared at a drone in the corner of the screen. At first glance, it is very similar to the drone shooting team unified by the organizing committee, but if you look closely, there are subtle differences in the feet of that drone.
Jing Ming: "Come and see this drone."
Everyone put down their mobile phones and gathered around the table, Jing Ming called up the few pictures he found.
A layman may not be able to tell the difference, but an insider can tell at a glance that they are not the same model.
Zhu Tao: "Where did this drone come from?"
Jing Ming: "Look at the pictures of it, it has been near Pengcheng's car."
He Wang reacted immediately: "I'll go, Pengcheng can't control it remotely. Cheating?!"
Although unmanned driving develops into mass production in the future, there will inevitably be remote control and comprehensive network construction. But at this stage, the competition is only to test the performance of the vehicle itself, and artificial background remote control is absolutely prohibited. And the current remote control is far from reaching the high-level level, just taking shortcuts to deal with the competition.
Wan Ziang: "If that's the case, his car isn't driverless at all, it's a remote control car!"
Du Ruo couldn't believe it: "It's a good thing they figured out such a cheat."
Jing Ming sneered: "The investment is small, but the return is big. If it weren't for Prime stealing the limelight, Pengcheng would have made a lot of money in Ruifeng stock based on today's performance."
Du Ruo asked: "Then what should we do now?"
"Report!" He Wang was filled with righteous indignation, "Pengcheng takes so many special science and technology support funds and subsidies from the country every year, but does this kind of dirty deed, let him be exposed and destroyed, and completely removed from the circle!"
Wan Ziang: "But have you ever thought about it? The race is held here. The national team cheated?! The impact is too bad. Isn't it embarrassing for the country?"
"this… "
Jing Ming said: "It's okay, we'll take the first place and just win the face back."
Finally said,
"I'm afraid that the superiors will hide it to cover up their ugliness. It will be bad for us. I'm even more afraid..."
He didn't say it, everyone knew it.
I'm even more afraid that if the organizing committee finds out...it will be a bigger scandal.
Where had this group of people encountered such a dark scene before, and they didn't make a sound for a while.
"Probably not." Jing Ming shook his head and said.
Du Ruo said: "If we go to report it, there are too many uncontrollable factors, and I'm afraid it will be bad for us. Besides, what if the drone is fine? We have to make sure that Peng Cheng is really cheating."
Jing Ming was silent, watched the video again, and suddenly smiled: "There is a way."