# Xiao Jianxiong
Chairman of AutoX
Bachelor and Master of Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Doctor of MIT
Baidu has completed the world's first fully driverless live broadcast, and JD.com's driverless truck will complete the commercial trial operation deployment. The driverless industry has won the attention and investment of major business giants. Statistics show that up to now, self-driving cars in Beijing have been tested on open roads for a total of 2 million kilometers, which is equivalent to running 50 times around the earth's equator without accidents. In the next step, Beijing will also open up autonomous driving tests on expressways, and the future development prospects of the driverless industry are bright.
Founded in 2016, AutoX is not only one of the leading L4/L5 autonomous driving technology companies in China, but also the only autonomous driving company in China that has introduced Dongfeng Group and SAIC Motor as strategic shareholders. The capital world has won the favor of Alibaba.
Professor Xiao Jianxiong, who studied at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for his undergraduate and master's degree, and MIT for his doctoral degree, and then worked as a professor in Princeton, said when talking about the beginning of his business, "I think every company is a very difficult time when it is first established. The reason why I have done a good job is because I have been doing research in this area for more than ten years, and I have been doing it since I was studying in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.”
Professor Xiao recalled that if he had not studied at HKUST, AutoX might not exist today, let alone develop.
"The teaching ability of our Department of Computer Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is too strong. This is completely comparable to the top level of education in the United States. I think that only Hong Kong can teach computer science so well in universities in China and even in Asia. Especially when I was studying in university more than ten years ago, the education level of HKUST in the computer science industry was definitely far ahead in Asia.” Professor Xiao said that the computer skills learned at HKUST laid the foundation for The basis for starting your own business.
Since 2015, the perception of the driverless industry in the entire capital circle has changed. In particular, in 2016, General Motors spent $1 billion to acquire Cruise to start autonomous driving, allowing capital to see the possibility of making money. Thanks to the rich experience accumulated in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in the early stage, Professor Xiao Jianxiong was able to quickly join this industry and have a good development.
According to Professor Xiao, HKUST created an important opportunity for him to enter the autonomous driving industry. "At that time, Quan Long, the mentor of our laboratory, took the Google project, got a lot of data from Google, and a lot of financial sponsorship, let us do research in this area. I happened to be the student in charge of this project at the time. People, under the guidance of our mentors, we have done this project very successfully."
Afterwards, AutoX worked hard all the way and achieved good results today. In 2020, successfully obtained the world's second fully driverless license in California. Such achievements, to a certain extent, represent that China's unmanned driving is at the leading level in the world.
Talking about why AutoX will expand its global business, Professor Xiao Jianxiong said that the internationalized school-running model of HKUST made him firmly believe that high-tech enterprises can only achieve greater progress if they develop globally. "Different from several other universities in Hong Kong, HKUST has fully learned from MIT and Princeton, and its teaching level is particularly high in an international way."
"Secondly, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has an international perspective. As I said just now, China is crossing the river by feeling the stones in terms of autonomous driving technology, but the technology in the United States is already very mature. Therefore, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology provides us with the opportunity to understand these advanced technologies. Coupled with the very pure technical environment and top teachers and professors of HKUST, it has a profound impact on me and the company." Professor Xiao Jianxiong then affirmed HKUST's outstanding international academic education ability.
AutoX was selected as one of the "Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's 2020 Top Ten Quasi-Unicorn Enterprises" . The most important thing is whether it can be recognized by the society, that is, whether the value created by the enterprise to the society is large enough."
"The purpose of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition is actually to encourage our new generation of entrepreneurs and set some good examples for them so that they can grow better and make contributions to all aspects of society." Xiao The professor finally said.
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