A glimpse into Jiading’s auto industry

A group of domestic and international journalists explored Jiading District’s thriving automobile industry, gaining firsthand insight into its cutting-edge intelligent manufacturing and innovation landmarks during a site visit event on November 6, organized by the 7th China International Import Expo’s Media Center. Zhang Chaoyan reports.

MEB Car plant leads in intelligent manufacturing for new-energy vehicles

110,000 

The plant’s new-energy vehicle sales exceeded 110,000 units in the first 10 months of this year, while October saw a record high of over 14,000 units sold.

In the MEB Car plant in Jiading District, robots are utilized on the chassis assembly line. — Yang Yujie

AWARDED the “2021 benchmark in-telligent plant in China’s automobile industry,” the SAIC Volkswagen MeB Car plant features comprehensive environmental protection, high-level automation and intelligent network connection.

It is also the first Volkswagen Group factory worldwide to achieve full in-dustrial wireless network coverage, according to Xu Zhiqin, the factory manager.

Intelligent manufacturing is at the heart of new-energy vehicle production in the plant, which combines an advanced digital production concept, a new production network architecture and full use of intelligent manufacturing technologies.

Over 1,400 industrial robots and a number of intelligent management systems serve to improve the automation rate of each workshop, and the robots have set a solid foundation for intelligent manufacturing of new-energy vehicles, Xu said.

“For example, the eight Atlas measurement robots, with their high precision, can detect deviations of 0.1mm in the car body, and complete a full vehicle measurement within 7 minutes,” he added.

The plant’s new-energy vehicle sales exceeded 110,000 units in the first 10 months of 2024, while October saw a record high of over 14,000 units sold, according to Xu. Meanwhile, total sales since listing three years ago have surpassed 300,000 units.

Metabaylism Industrial Park at forefront of metaverse applications

The Metabaylism Industrial Park hosts an automotive metaverse ecosystem. 

The LED screen at Metabaylism’s metaverse virtual studio can showcase various environmental settings. — Li Huacheng

The metaverse has opened up possibilities for the automotive industry, and the Metabaylism Industrial Park is at the forefront of exploring the application of metaverse technology in this field.

An automotive metaverse ecosystem has been introduced by integrating advanced technologies, including 5G base stations, new energy vehicle charging stations, big data centers, AI and the industrial Internet.

The industrial park is also a major player in empowering the film industry with metaverse technol-ogy, fostering the growth of digital studios.

The flagship metaverse virtual stu-dio in the park features VR, AR and green screen technology, allowing filmmakers to make films in a hyper-realistic virtual environment.

Upon entering the studio, visitors are immediately immersed in a winter wonderland of Beijing. A massive 40-meter-long LeD screen showcases the iconic red walls of the Forbidden City blanketed in snow.

Operators can adjust various set-tings on the monitor, changing the weather and time, and transporting visitors to diverse locations, like a desert oasis, in seconds.

Chu Da, CeO of Versetech, an in-novative high-tech company and the producer of the virtual studio, said that the metaverse-powered virtual studio, built on Unreal engine, creates immersive, real-time filming by link-ing real-world and virtual cameras.

He said virtual production studios are driving the development of the global film industry, and virtual production is becoming increasingly popular in China.

“Many Netflix’s TV series such as ‘The Mandalorian,’ have made ex-tensive use of virtual production technology,” Chu said. “Many domes-tic comics and some sci-fi scenes in the currently filming sequels to ‘The Wandering earth,’ parts 2 and 3, have also employed virtual production.”