Chapter 336 - 336: Brave New World (3)

The journey was 73 kilometers. After a stop at Johor Electronic City, the train proceeded at full speed toward Kampung City.

To a certain extent, Homo Sapiens Company's comprehensive urbanization investment strategy helped the train maintain a high speed, as it didn't need to make many stops along the way.

46 minutes later, the train arrived at Kampung City.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at Kampung City. Please take all your personal belongings with you."

With Zhao Jingcai's help, Chen Yanxiu and his family disembarked easily, then took an elevator back to the ground-level station.

Zhao Jingcai hailed a self-driving taxi and took Chen Yanxiu's family to Building 204 in Kampung City South District.

Watching the orderly flow of traffic, Chen Yanxiu noticed many armed traffic controllers on the streets. He asked curiously:

"Jingcai, do the traffic management personnel here carry rifles? Is it because everyone can own a gun?"

Zhao Jingcai tapped the steering wheel. "The guns are a requirement from the Internal Security Division. It's mainly a precaution against the things outside the walls, making it easy to enter a state of emergency at any time."

"As for universal gun ownership, that's actually a misconception. Only elite employees certified and vetted by the Internal Security Division are qualified to purchase firearms. Currently, there are about 150 million elite employees registered with the Internal Security Division."

'Heh,' Chen Yanxiu thought, too exasperated to even comment. 'How many employees does Homo Sapiens Company even have in total? Even including the Dongba and Mad Branches, it's only about 800 million.'

'150 million elite employees... that basically covers a huge portion of the young and middle-aged employees.'

In truth, the 150 million elite employees represented the 150 million "New Human" employees within Homo Sapiens Company. It was just that new employees like Chen Yanxiu weren't yet aware of the connection.

The car detected a traffic light ahead and automatically slowed down.

Chen Yanxiu, sitting in the passenger seat, also saw that Zhao Jingcai didn't seem to be doing much of anything, yet the car began to slow down on its own.

"Is this car self-driving?"

"No, it's assisted driving. It's mandatory to have it installed, mainly to reduce traffic accidents. My department is the one that develops the onboard assisted driving computers."

"Isn't there a risk of losing control? It seems like those car companies working on self-driving don't really have mature autonomous driving technology, right?"

Zhao Jingcai explained, "Don't worry! Our company's technology is already very mature. In fact, I think we could go straight to full self-driving, but it seems headquarters hasn't approved it. All vehicles are still required to use the assisted driving mode."

On this point, Chen Yanxiu actually agreed with Homo Sapiens Company's approach. After all, current self-driving technology still had some shortcomings and tended to cause public concern.

He voiced his thoughts, "The company's chip technology is impressive, but doesn't autonomous driving also require advanced onboard radar? From what I've seen, many car companies conduct their tests in highly idealized environments. In a real-world driving situation, it's hard for an onboard computer to handle every sudden event."

"You're right, but our department adopted a different solution."

"Huh?" Chen Yanxiu was completely baffled. "How did you solve it?" Then he quickly added, "Heh, if it involves confidential information, just pretend I never asked."

The car stopped before a crosswalk.

Zhao Jingcai smiled and replied, "It's not confidential. Even if you told everyone, other car companies wouldn't be able to copy it."

Now Chen Yanxiu was intrigued. "Oh? And what method is that?"

"You all received your smart wristbands, right?"

"Smart wristband?" Chen Yanxiu raised his hand, revealing the black smart wristband. "Is there some kind of secret to this thing?"

Zhao Jingcai explained, "All employee wristbands and phones have a built-in positioning function. Likewise, all vehicles operating within the company's territory also have a built-in positioning function. We use this positioning data to achieve autonomous driving."

"So you're saying the company can determine everyone's location through their wristbands and phones?"

"That's right."

Chen Yanxiu suddenly thought of a problem. "What if I forget to bring them? Or what if the wristband and phone run out of battery?"

"That won't happen. There's an automatic voice reminder device at the entrance of your residence. If it detects that you're leaving without your phone and wristband, the system will automatically give you a voice prompt."

The car detected the traffic light countdown hit zero, and the electric motor started, continuing forward.

"As for running out of battery, the phone and wristband will also remind you automatically. Plus, the company has public chargers and shareable power banks everywhere. It's actually pretty hard for your phone to die."

"Even if it really runs out of battery and there are no power banks around, there's another solution: walk with someone who has a wristband and phone, or just stick to the sidewalks. That way, motor vehicles won't be a threat to you."

But Chen Yanxiu still had his doubts. "What if a disobedient child or someone like that runs into a traffic lane without a wristband? Wouldn't an accident happen easily then?"

"That's why the company won't approve a full rollout of self-driving yet!" Zhao Jingcai shrugged helplessly.

In reality, neither of them knew that Homo Sapiens Company planned to use pheromones and magnetic field radar to complement its autonomous driving systems in the future.

But because the pheromone and magnetic field radar technologies were currently classified, the autonomous driving project had been shelved.

Although Chen Yanxiu was a little worried about the reliability of autonomous driving, he was quite optimistic about the technology being used for assisted driving.

"This technology is a pretty good solution for reducing traffic accidents."

"Goes without saying. At the very least, things like speeding, drunk driving, drowsy driving, running red lights, overloading, and intentionally reckless driving are all stamped out by the assisted driving system."

Ever since Homo Sapiens Company rolled out assisted driving, traffic accidents in cities using the technology had dropped by 99%, with only a small fraction of accidents caused by mechanical failures or wildlife remaining.

Although some car owners complained that the assisted driving was too rigid, the company specifically wanted the system to be rigid.

After all, many people have a demon lurking in their hearts.

Countless accidents are caused by drivers losing emotional control, especially those short-tempered drivers with road rage.

Add to that the female drivers whose brains tend to freeze up, who are also a high-risk group for accidents.

The purpose of the assisted driving system is to reduce anomalous human factors during driving.

Safety, above all else, is the direction automotive development should pursue.

Currently, Homo Sapiens Company's various car manufacturing subsidiaries are putting a great deal of effort into all kinds of safety measures.

To Homo Sapiens Company, the life of every employee was, in fact, company property. To protect these assets, which could work ceaselessly for the company, it was a rational strategy to specially research and develop safe vehicles.

Only with the assisted driving system did Zhao Jingcai dare to chat casually while driving.

Twenty minutes later, the car arrived at its destination.

Zhao Jingcai got out of the car, took out the luggage, and then pointed to a residential building not far away. "We're here. That building next to the crocodile statue is yours."

Chen Yanxiu glanced around and saw that the exteriors of the buildings here all looked the same. Fortunately, there were neon signs with building numbers hanging on them.

Moreover, the entrance of each residential building was decorated with a statue of an animal, and different types of fruit trees were planted nearby to help residents find their way.

Liu Meizhu, holding her young daughter, walked over to the bronze statue of a Malayan crocodile. After striking a pose, she took a selfie.

"Let's go. We still need to go buy some daily necessities later," Chen Yanxiu said, taking his son's hand and walking toward the main entrance of the residential building with Zhao Jingcai.