"These two advantages are quite impressive!" Mr. Huang was astonished after listening, as these advantages were far from simple.
First, the AI electronic control integration, while sounding simple, involved an aircraft. During flight, over a thousand sensors were actively monitoring the entire aircraft's condition. The AI had to perform comprehensive monitoring and data integration of these numerous AI signals, then issue various judgments. This was not something ordinary technology could achieve.
Not to mention, even Boeing lacked this technology.
Of course, this technology could also easily lead to major problems. For instance, Boeing had also introduced a semi-intelligent system on its new aircraft models. However, the software was outsourced to Indian engineers, resulting in severe logic conflicts in critical areas. This caused the aircraft to lose power directly and crash.
Compared to the second advantage of fuel saving, the intelligent AI was completely insignificant.
After all, no matter how intelligent the AI pilot was, it was essentially performing the role of a pilot. Pilots could not be omitted. No airline dared to completely rely on intelligent systems and completely abandon human piloting; neither passengers nor governments would permit such a thing.
Therefore, the practical significance of this technology was not that great. However, fuel saving was entirely different. With a passenger capacity exceeding Boeing's, fuel consumption could actually be reduced by as much as 30%.
What did this mean for the entire aviation industry?
To put it this way, as long as this aircraft did not have too large a gap with Boeing in terms of safety and comfort, it might dominate the entire large aircraft market in the future. It was not impossible to drive Boeing out of this market.
It was known that the fuel consumed by a Boeing 747 on a flight across the United States and China could directly purchase a Mercedes-Benz. If a 30% fuel saving could be achieved on a single flight, it would be equivalent to directly saving a BYD.
But could this really be achieved with their own technology?
Mr. Huang couldn't recall investing in any aviation technology skills.
Yang Yunhe naturally noticed the doubt in Mr. Huang's eyes and said with great emotion, "This is all thanks to the company's technical support. Regarding intelligent AI, all of it was completed by the company's engineers and programmers. Although I have some understanding of engineering technology, I am completely clueless about electronic control. Without the help of these colleagues, we would not have been able to complete this task."
"What is going on?" Mr. Huang frowned upon hearing this. The overall control system for the large aircraft project was not a small undertaking; it would require a team of at least a hundred people and several years to complete. Yet, it turned out that all of this was accomplished by engineers and programmers from the head office. This would consume a tremendous amount of their energy and time. Were their primary responsibilities being neglected? Were the tasks assigned to them by the company not being completed?
"Please elaborate! How did colleagues from the head office assist here? I want to properly commend them when I return!" Thinking this, Mr. Huang continued to smile at Yang Yunhe and said.
Yang Yunhe, without suspicion, directly stated, "That's right. Our company is actually a small workshop. The initial employees and technical personnel were a team gradually assembled by Master and his colleagues, all from their former circle."
"The most prominent characteristic of that generation was their emphasis on mechanics. They were strong in mechanical structure, even able to craft any metal parts they needed with their own hands, achieving micron-level accuracy. However, they lacked technical expertise and capabilities in electronic control, so we shamelessly sought help from the head office."
"I was going to report to Master to apply for technical support, but Master said that such matters must be handled in person to show sincerity."
"However, Master's health was already somewhat problematic at that time. Master visited the head office three times, but the people there said they were aware of the issue but couldn't allocate manpower immediately and asked us to wait."
"We waited for three years. Master couldn't stand it anymore, because the aircraft was already about half completed, and the design of the electronic control system had to begin. Otherwise, subsequent work could not proceed."
"So Master went to the head office for the fourth time. Their attitude was initially that they were aware of it. Later, when Master produced aviation gasoline and threatened to take them down with him, they hastily explained that all their manpower was focused on terminal business and they couldn't spare any extra personnel."
"At most, they could dispatch four or five people to help us take a look. As a result, the people did come, but they were all newly hired employees. Although these individuals were young, they were programmers, and graduates from Jiangnan University. Master felt they could be used."
"However, precisely because they were young, after hearing Master's story, they were all filled with righteous indignation and worked day and night on the aircraft. Three months later, they actually began to write the programs and architecture for the aircraft's overall control system, and the aircraft's design work truly continued."
"These three or four newcomers managed to handle the entire aircraft's overall control?" Huang He asked in disbelief. If that were true, then these three or four newcomers were likely all programmers of Jobs' caliber.
"No, they only stayed at the company for 5 months before being transferred back by the head office under the pretext of fully supporting terminal projects." At this point, a wry smile appeared on Yang Yunhe's lips, while Huang He pondered.
Calculating the time, it was around the time when Tian Zhou Terminal was just launched, and it was pushing the entire five-system (五进制) system single-handedly. Thus, all programmers in the company were engaged in a frantic, endless battle, producing hundreds of applications under the five-system in a single month, and all of them were high-quality applications. This greatly enriched their own program library, ultimately helping Tian Zhou Terminal and the Five Elements System (五行系统) successfully capture the dominant position in the entire terminal system, becoming unshakeable for eternity, much like Microsoft once was.
These four or five people must have been reassigned to the head office during this period.
After all, Mr. Huang had personally issued the order: Tian Zhou Terminal is paramount, everything serves Tian Zhou Terminal. Therefore, it was not surprising that people were unhesitatingly pulled from this aviation industry, which had always operated outside the company's system and was unrelated to the company's main business, and even sounded somewhat bizarre.
Of course, there were also strange aspects. For example, since these people had already been transferred away, how was the intelligent AI overall control system completed?
Under Mr. Huang's persistent questioning, Yang Yunhe continued to explain, "We were also baffled at the time. My Master was even hospitalized from anger because of this. After staying in the hospital for only three days, he escaped and returned. Following that, he prepared to make another trip to the head office, intending to forcefully bring back those four people, because the entire aircraft's overall control architecture was created by them, and only they could continue to write it. Other programmers could not take over!"
"However, before Master could go, they proactively called us, saying that although they worked at the head office, they could still work for us. After all, they only needed to write programs, and it didn't matter where they wrote them."
"So, from then on, we communicated with them almost entirely online. Only when encountering problems that absolutely required on-site observation would they fly over during their limited vacation time, and then fly back to continue writing programs."
"It is said that they all helped us in their spare time after finishing their work. Under these circumstances, their bodies could not endure it. Little Liu almost collapsed at his post. Later, my Master felt guilty and stopped contacting them, intending to find others to take over."
"Unexpectedly, they found us again. But this time, they brought more than a dozen helpers, all their colleagues, who were willing to voluntarily help us after hearing their story!"
"Subsequently, more and more people like them joined. In the end, even four to five hundred people were simultaneously helping us write programs, fix various bugs, and complete various tests. Finally, they even collectively completed a dedicated intelligent AI program for our aircraft, making our overall control system the best system in the world!" Yang Yunhe said this, his whole being surging with emotion, waving his fist excitedly, with tears even shimmering in his eyes.
Mr. Huang was in a similar state, but his thoughts were more complex, merely not expressed outwardly.
"These are the most outstanding talents in our company, and the company will not mistreat them!" Mr. Huang nodded, and Yang Yunhe also nodded excitedly, not overthinking matters.
"Then what about the fuel consumption? How was the fuel consumption resolved? Did you modify the engine?" Mr. Huang asked next, as this was the issue he cared about most. Given the extremely mature aviation engine technology at present, Mr. Huang did not believe that any technology could instantly save 30% of fuel consumption, unless the aviation engine technology was completely revolutionized.
But this was even more incredible, as it was something that even a country's entire strength would struggle to achieve. If their company could accomplish this, then the next Einstein would undoubtedly be born here.
"No, no, how could I have such ability to improve engine technology? The engine technology we currently use is merely a replication of American technology! And this also thanks to the special materials you provided, boss, otherwise, we would not be able to produce qualified engines!" Yang Yunhe quickly said, "I simply added a pair of anti-gravity engines to the aircraft!"