I headed towards Hankuk University in my CarOS AD4.
The autonomous electric car drove quietly down the road. Sitting in the driver's seat, I browsed a portal site via the dashboard display.
Along with a Lost Fantasy ad, Min Ha-young's webtoon was featured on the main page. It seed to be quite popular.
Another related issue was Chairman Im Jin-yong visiting the Seosung SB employee he t in the ga.
This incident quickly spread through rumors, even becoming news articles, and gaming sites were in an uproar.
- Woah! The low-level noob in the ga was the Chairman!
- LOL This is a true real-life PK! [Player Kill]
- This is the most absurd thing I've read in the news this year ㅡㅡ;
- Heard this was reported on CNN too, haha
- So, did that guy get fired?
- He's not so thug, why would he fire an employee over sothing like that? Heard they just had a nice al and parted ways.
- Heard Im Jin-yong asked all sorts of questions about the ga during the al. Also heard Im Jin-yong paid.
- Im Jin-yong is cool. The more I see, the more genuine he seems. Wish my boss was like this ㅜㅜ
Nah, this is all a ploy. Let's not be fooled by Seosung Group's dia manipulation.
- They say the reality is he's super fake and sees the public as suckers.
- Hear, hear! Arrest Im Jin-yong!
Whether it was intentional or not, the overall reaction was generally favorable. Thanks to this, Seosung Electronics jumping into VR console developnt got so publicity.
Anyway, I didn't feel it much when I was actually driving, but not having to drive is certainly convenient. There's nothing to get annoyed about even if the road is congested, and you can even recline the seat.
When I went to the automotive page, it was full of test drive reviews for the Raven.
Unlike brands with a premium image like rcedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Lexus, etc., Eunsung Motors' image is that of good value for money.
While technology can be caught up with, image is hard to catch up to easily. Even if cheaper cars erge, demand for rcedes or Lexus doesn't easily decrease, but demand for Eunsung cars drops imdiately.
Already struggling against Chinese cars in price competitiveness and Japanese/German cars in performance, when the PAS airbag recall crisis hit, Eunsung Motors' sales plumted by over 50 percent.
With the sales collapse compounded by the damaged image, forecasts even erged that recovery would be difficult. However, after releasing the autonomous electric car Raven, a turning point was created.
Like the saying "mouthwash invented bad breath," new technology creates the perception of inconvenience (before its solution). Therefore, once technology advances, it never retreats.
Soone who has used a cell phone cannot go back to a pager, and soone who has used a smartphone cannot go back to a feature phone. Similarly, once you experience an autonomous electric car, other cars feel inconvenient.
After custor deliveries of the Raven began, word-of-mouth spread from those who drove it, causing reservations to surge even more. Even though the Gunsan Electric Vehicle Industrial Complex is running its factories at full capacity 24 hours a day, the backlog of orders kept growing.
The future direction of cars has two main aspects: hardware-wise, electric vehicles; software-wise, autonomous vehicles.
Between these, the latter naturally has a greater impact. Electric cars rely change the refueling thod, but autonomous cars change the way of life.
With autonomous driving, the driver doesn't need to focus on driving, so they can do other things during that ti. Therefore, a war surrounding vehicle displays is also well underway.
Previously, they mainly showed driving-related information like navigation or rearview caras, but now, like computers or smartphones, they can provide various content through the dashboard display.
There's no way global corporations would miss out on this huge market.
Gooble and Npple, which already dominate the smartphone OS market, have approached [CarOS] offering various favorable conditions. The proposal is to link their OS with the vehicle, share user data, and distribute profits.
The stability of both companies' OSs is already proven, and their stores have a vast number of registered applications. Simply accepting the proposal would allow imdiate utilization of that content.
In reality, several car companies like Volvo and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance accepted such proposals. However, Daryl's stance was firm.
As a software developer himself, he understood the importance of the platform better than anyone. He also knew that once you beco dependent, it's irreversible.
CarOS already holds a unique position in the autonomous driving market. Is there really a need to share a market with limitless potential with IT giants?
CarOS operated its own OS and worked to attract various third parties. Although there's an entry barrier of having to create separate applications, nurous companies already hoped to partner.
In the past, once a car was built and sold, that was the end of it. But now, much like smartphones, the operating system and system can be periodically updated, and new features can be added.
They enabled video calls using the vehicle display and built-in cara by linking with Seosung Electronics smartphones, and also added features to recomnd or reserve restaurants, charging stations, and tourist spots.
FaceIt developed an algorithm that tracks user movents to recomnd content they might like.
Among the various types of content, educational content is receiving the most attention.
Commuting involves a set amount of travel ti, and the enclosed space of a car is an optimal environnt for studying. Furthermore, electric cars have almost no noise or vibration. Experts also predicted that adult educational content would grow explosively in conjunction with the spread of autonomous vehicles.
CarOS is going further, even developing unmanned vehicles completely lacking steering wheels, accelerators, and brakes. The absence of a steering wheel ans the vehicle interior can be designed in various ways. You could even lie down completely, or passengers could face each other while riding.
However, technological progress doesn't always lead only to good outcos.
As car-sharing and ride-sharing services grew explosively, global car sales already began to decline starting last year.
Additionally, with the increase in electric vehicle production eliminating engines and transmissions – which were the largest share of traditional car parts – production workforce numbers significantly decreased.
A strong wave of downsizing swept through the auto industry.
Following the closure of its Gunsan plant, GM closed six plants in the US and decided to cut 20,000 jobs. Volkswagen cited managent efficiency as it initiated 10,000 job cuts, and Toyota also reviewed plant closures and workforce reductions.
It's not just auto company employees losing jobs. Those working in the transportation industry in the US have already started looking for other jobs.
For now, CarOS is leading, but there are already five companies expected to release similar-level autonomous cars within the next three years, increasing to ten if the tifra extends to five years.
Experts predict that the replacent rate by autonomous vehicles will exceed 50 percent within the next 10 years. If this happens, traffic accidents will decrease to less than one-tenth of current levels, and jobs will be threatened for police and insurance company employees who handle accidents, repair shops that fix damaged cars, and even doctors and nurses who treat traffic accident victims.
Unemploynt is devastating for individuals and also causes instability for society as a whole. Events like Brexit in the UK and the Yellow Vest protests in France also erupted from public discontent caused by unemploynt and job shortages.
For our country to avoid that fate, politicians need to cooperate with schools, corporations, and others to prepare counterasures in advance... but as always, the National Assembly is fiercely divided between the ruling and opposition parties, and the governnt is sitting on its hands.
***
I entered the Business Administration departnt head's office.
Professor Kim Myoung-jun smiled as soon as he saw and said,
“It's such a relief the Lost Fantasy concert went well.”
“It was a great opportunity for us too.”
“The head of the Instruntal Music departnt is absolutely beaming. Thanks to that, my ho life has beco peaceful.”
“Hearing that makes happy too.”
Gahwa-mansaseong (Family harmony brings success in everything). What in the world is more important than peace at ho?
Cultural projects play a significant role not just in generating profit or enjoynt, but also in enhancing image. That's why large corporations offer various kinds of support. They build and operate their own performance halls, and sponsor exhibitions, operas, musicals, etc. One chairman loved traditional Korean music so much that he reportedly forced employees and dealership owners to attend gugak events, earning criticism.
People might not know it well, but we are also diligently supporting the cultural industry. For one, we invest in various dramas and movies through Edm Entertainnt, and the Vice President is passionately working to promote subculture.
As a result, our image among otakus is improving significantly. Is this why we're called the 'Otaku Company'?
Professor Kim Myoung-jun said while drinking coffee,
“Professor Park Pil-hyun asked to tell you thank you.”
“It was nothing.”
Professor Park Pil-hyun is a professor in Hankuk University's Automotive Engineering departnt. I owed him one from the PAS airbag incident.
As a token of gratitude for his help back then, I donated ten AD3s, ten AD4s, and ten Ravens to Hankuk University. So will be used by the Automotive Engineering departnt for educational purposes like disassembly and assembly, and the rest will be used for car-sharing for Hankuk University students.
“I t with the Automotive Engineering professors recently, and they were all lanting. They said they've taught the sa things for decades but can't keep up with the changes now. They've revised the curriculum across the board starting this sester. Teaching about motors and batteries instead of engines and transmissions. Automotive Engineering is facing the most imdiate pressure, but professors in other departnts are also worried. Probably within a few years, so departnts will disappear.”
As industries change, the type of talent needed also changes. Jobs that were promising yesterday could vanish overnight.
To avoid falling behind the tis, education must also keep pace.
“But the Business Administration departnt should be fine, right?”
Professor Kim Myoung-jun nodded.
“Of course. In tis like these, the importance of managent only grows. No matter how much technology advances, it's ultimately humans who manage it, isn't it? You know your story is appearing in recent economics and business textbooks, right?”
“Excuse ?”
“Why so surprised? Go to a bookstore, and you'll see tons of books cashing in on the Kang Jin-hoo na.” (‘Invest Like Kang Jin-hoo,’ ‘Read This Book and You Too Can Be Kang Jin-hoo,’ ‘Kang Jin-hoo's Investnts: A Perfect Analysis,’ ‘Mindlessly Copying Kang Jin-hoo,’ etc.)
“But textbooks are different. Students learning about my case studies…”
What on earth is there to learn from ?
Just as the professor said, the economics and business sections of bookstores are lined with books featuring my na. Out of boredom, I skimd one, and it was truly just plausible-sounding nonsense.
The truly amazing fact is that even though reading just one book supposedly allows you to invest like , the authors themselves are writing and selling books instead of doing it!
Professor Kim Myoung-jun said proudly,
“As you know, Hankuk University's ranking in global university competitiveness has risen trendously lately. And among its departnts, our Business Administration is exceptional. Transfer students are lining up too. Ah! Have you heard the news?”
“What news?”
“Princess Anneke is apparently coming to our university.”
“I see. Anneke... Huh?”
Nodding along, I was suddenly startled.
“The Princess of Norway is coming to our school? Why?”
Professor Kim Myoung-jun asked back,
“Surely you didn't know? I thought you would, since you've t her before. She originally planned to study abroad at MIT but apparently changed to Hankuk University. She applied to transfer to the College of Engineering, and the procedures are all finished.”
“Transferring, not as an exchange student?”
“Yes. Transferring.”
Exchange students study for a certain period and return to their ho university, but transferring ans getting a degree from this university entirely.
In the case of the College of Engineering, most classes are conducted in English, so attending lectures shouldn't be a major issue.
It's common for royalty to study abroad. However, they usually go to developed countries in the US or Europe; choosing Korea is rare.
“Why choose Hankuk University over MIT?”
“Hmm, perhaps because Korea is rapidly growing in future industries like automobiles, semiconductors, batteries, and gas?”
“That's true, but…”
Regardless of whether the governnt's economic policies are good or bad, Korean conglorates are jumping into new industries and competing fiercely.
In mory semiconductors, Seosung Electronics widened the gap with competitors using its 'super gap' strategy, while CL Chemical, Seosung SB, and SSK Innovation established OTK Battery production systems. Eunsung Motors beca the second company after CarOS to mass-produce autonomous electric vehicles, and ga companies successively joined OTK Gas' VRMMORPG developnt project.
Previously, there was much criticism about the Korean economy's over-reliance on semiconductors, but now it's showing prominence in various fields.
Batteries, in particular, are receiving so much attention they're being called the 'second semiconductor'. There's no need to even ntion what a trendous achievent Professor Kim Ho-min accomplished.
“Wouldn't building connections also be a goal? You, Professor Kim Ho-min – you're all Hankuk University alumni. Besides, Hankuk University students are doing incredibly well finding jobs overseas these days. Many are going to places like Gooble, Npple, or FaceNote.”
I recalled the image of Princess Anneke, her eyes sparkling as she chattered about gas.
Surely... this isn't related to Oh Taekgyu, is it?
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