Wang Wei has done a lot of work and, during his long journey, he didn’t realize what he would do in the future. Fortunately, those complex professional experiences didn’t deviate from the main line – always dealing with industries like electronics and automobiles. Like every entrepreneur, he always maintained a keen sense of smell, searching for the right direction through trial and error.
In 2013, Wang Wei joined a team that developed image algorithms, and as they moved forward together, he became more convinced that this was a career where he could invest his passion and energy.
Ten years ago, life was filled with dreams of “intelligence” and “smartness,” but city parking was far from being truly intelligent. Cars were constantly coming and going in parking lots, and many tasks still relied on human intervention: staff members would write down license plate numbers, record entry and exit times, collect parking fees, and then allow the vehicles to leave. Even the most “technologically advanced” solution was nothing more than vehicle owners taking a parking card themselves, which made the accounting process slightly more “automatic.”
In Wang Wei’s team, they found this to be too “clumsy.” They saw the pain points as an opportunity and realized that they could combine image algorithms with intelligent parking.
In 2014, the company also had its name – Huaxia Zhixin.
Image algorithms were their expertise, but through the early struggles, they realized that it was not profitable. “As a purely software, purely algorithmic company, it was quite difficult to develop and survive,” says Wang Wei. Combining software and hardware to develop a range of user-friendly physical technology products gradually became the company’s determined path.
In simple terms, Huaxia Zhixin initially developed an image-based service system that could “recognize” vehicles and license plates. Today’s car owners are familiar with this, but ten years ago, it was teams like Wang Wei’s company that were striving to tame the “not yet matured” technological monster.
They placed special emphasis on the accuracy of recognition because they understood the “picky” nature of the intelligent parking market. In the early stages, only seven or eight license plate recognitions out of a hundred were correct among their competitors’ trial markets. So, it was difficult for any parking lot to readily accept such a product. Huaxia Zhixin knew that accuracy was the lifeline of their product, and from the very beginning, they made an “extraordinary move.” When the product was launched in 2015, it achieved a 98% accuracy rate.
