Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng Motors, vying to challenge Tesla, has managed to avoid intense regulatory pressure from the local authorities. Its president Brian Gu is one of the lucky ones who has been able to win the Chinese government’s loyalty.
The reason for such loyalty was Brian Gu's unprincipled attitude towards privacy. The company agreed to cooperate with the authorities on the collection and processing of personal user data without hesitation. Indeed, in order to train algorithms for autonomous driving, automakers are collecting an increasing amount of data that can be useful to the government. “So we are actually on the right side of the regulation,” the head of Xpeng Motors noted.
“I think our industry is actually stated as an industry that will be supported by the government. They see this as a critical infrastructure, as well as a critical component of growth for manufacturing, smart technology, and also a carbon neutral agenda, which the government is pushing very hard,” Brian Gu said.
While Internet companies are losing billions, the electric car maker has managed to get through the crackdown without significant losses. The main thing is to focus on data security and communicate with government agencies on that topic as Gu does. According to him, the new data regulations on automakers are designed “not to stop innovation” but “to make sure that we handle (data) with ... care”.
