The World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2021 (WAIC 2021) was recently ended with a focus on the growing autonomous driving technology industry. However, the event didn’t end without a bit of drama. Huawei announced the removal of the head of its autonomous driving unit Su Jing. The tech giant later issued a statement that the former head was removed for inappropriate comments made about Tesla’s autonomous self-driving technology at the event. Su had claimed Tesla vehicles are killing people, apparently referring to the autopilot issue that has been reported severally in recent times. 
Su Jing has been with Huawei for many years with outstanding ability in autonomous technology and a good staff rating. He has previously served as the chief architect of Huawei Terminal Company and later as the head of Huawei’s intelligent driving product department. In particular, he took the lead in creating the autonomous driving system solution ADS, which was first showcased on the BAIC Arcfox Alpha S. The car is the first smart electric car equipped with Huawei’s lidar solution and the first model equipped with Huawei Harmony OS car system.
Thus, there are speculations in some quarters that his removal might be due to other reasons other than the Tesla comments. Before now, there were rumors that Weilai (NIO) and other car manufacturers had approached Su Jing and were looking to poach him from Huawei. However, both Mr. Su and NIO denied the rumor. Although Huawei still retains him in its employment, the autonomous driving expert may soon pitch his tent somewhere else.
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