On August 8, Zhongce Rubber Group Headquarters held the "Academician Zhang Liqun Workstation Project Signing Ceremony and Tire Industry Trends and Technology Frontier Forum". Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, President of Xi'an Jiaotong University Zhang Liqun, Chairman of Zhongce Rubber Group Shen Jinrong, as well as representatives from government, universities, and automotive manufacturers gathered together to jointly witness the formal signing and landing of this workstation, marking a new stage for the industry-university-research cooperation between the two parties lasting over ten years.

Zhongce Rubber Chairman Shen Jinrong stated that relying on the top-notch basic research capabilities of the academician team and Zhongce's industrialization platform, both sides will build a complete innovation closed loop of "Basic Research — Technical Breakthrough — Pilot Scale-up — Industrial Implementation — Market Application", focusing on key breakthroughs in core fields such as green bio-based rubber and new materials for high-performance tires. Academician Zhang Liqun emphasized that the workstation will practice the logic of "Industry poses questions, research solves them, enterprises use them", closely following the new requirements of new energy vehicles for high load-bearing and high durability of tires, breaking the "Magic Triangle" puzzle of tire performance, and promoting the industry to upgrade towards high-end, intelligent, and green.

It is reported that since 2022, Zhongce Rubber Academician Expert Workstation has cumulatively invested more than 50 million yuan in R&D funds, and has achieved breakthrough results in four directions: First, high-performance tires such as "Chaoyang No. 1" were successfully original-matched with high-end new energy vehicles such as Zunjie S800; Second, the "4+7" waste tire green self-cycling production line was built, with an annual processing capacity of 100,000 tons, accumulating 800 million yuan in revenue; Third, special bionic elastomer research for crewed lunar vehicles was carried out to serve national major science and technology tasks; Fourth, an ultra-wear-resistant all-steel radial tire with a bio-based content of 91% was developed.

Zhongce Rubber Director and Senior Vice President Shen Haoyu shared the company's latest development status. As a tire enterprise that ranks in the global top ten and is number one domestically, Zhongce Rubber's sales revenue reached 44.049 billion yuan in 2025, and successfully listed on the A-share Main Board in June of the same year. Facing the trend of "East Rising, West Declining" in the global tire industry and challenges such as trade barriers, the company established a dual-track strategy of "High-end Customization and High Cost-performance", and accelerated global capacity layout. Thailand and Indonesia factories are already in production, and the new Vietnam factory is about to start. Currently, the company has provided original factory matching for domestic high-end models such as AITO, Zunjie, and Leapmotor. In the future, it will deepen AI technology application and seize the opportunity of new energy vehicles going global.

During the forum session, Cao Li, Executive Director and Senior Vice President of Leapmotor Automobile, pointed out that tire performance plays a key role in new energy vehicle range, handling, and quietness. He called on automotive manufacturers and tire manufacturers to advance cooperation to the vehicle architecture and product definition stage, and suggested domestic complete vehicle and parts and components enterprises build a large group system to go global hand in hand.

This signing is a solid step for the Chinese tire industry to move towards the high end of the global value chain. In the future, Zhongce Rubber will take research original advantages with industrialization capabilities, and comprehensively promote the Chinese tire industry to leap from scale advantages to technology, product, and brand advantages.

On June 3, 2026, a certification from the Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority ignited the Chinese low-altitude economy circle.

AutoFlight V2000CG Kayou – this 2-ton unmanned cargo eVTOL, has secured the world's first overseas type certification (VTC) for an eVTOL. In plain terms, this is the first time a Chinese-ton-plus eVTOL has obtained an "export pass".

The news itself is not complex, but the signal behind it is worth savoring.

Why Indonesia?

Choosing Indonesia as the first stop was no accident.

The title "Land of Ten Thousand Islands" is not given for nothing – more than 17,000 islands, logistics is a major hurdle. Sea shipping is too slow, airplanes too expensive, and building runways is unrealistic. This geographical dilemma is exactly the natural habitat for eVTOL. Vertical takeoff and landing, no runway needed, a 200 km range, like an air courier tailor-made for the archipelago.

But the more crucial layer of logic is that Indonesia itself has an aviation industry foundation and airworthiness certification capability. In other words, its approval is not merely a "formality", but genuine technical endorsement with real value. Getting the nod from a knowledgeable country is more persuasive than obtaining certifications from ten loose markets.

The True Weight of This Certificate

Many people might not fully understand the significance of VTC. Simply put: The CAAC issued a TC (Type Certificate), representing that this plane can fly in China. But to fly in Indonesia, the Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority must issue another VTC, confirming "we recognize your Chinese certification standards, this plane is safe in Indonesia as well".

The difficulty lies in that the standards of both parties do not necessarily align. Passing this time indicates that China CAAC's airworthiness standards have achieved effective alignment with the Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority's – behind this is mutual trust between the two nations' civil aviation management systems and deep technical alignment.

In other words, what AutoFlight obtained is not just a certificate, but also empirical evidence that China's low-altitude airworthiness standards are recognized internationally.

A Signal Easily Overlooked

Reviewing the timeline: March 2024 obtained China TC, July 2025 submitted Indonesia application, June 2026 obtained VTC – the entire cycle is less than one year. For a brand new aircraft category, this speed is quite astonishing.

What does this indicate? It indicates that China's eVTOL airworthiness certification system has become relatively mature, providing clear path references for going global. And the Indonesian side also demonstrated efficient coordination capabilities. Both sides are racing against time – because in the low-altitude economy sector, the person who runs first has an absolute advantage.

This is completely different from the protracted struggles of traditional large aircraft airworthiness certification that often take years.

Calmly Speaking, Challenges Lie Ahead

Obtaining certification is a major breakthrough, but the hard battle of commercialization has just begun.

The V2000CG is currently the cargo version, which itself is a pragmatic choice – although cargo requires high safety redundancy, at least it does not have to face the public opinion pressure of passenger carrying where "anything happening is a big deal". First running through logistics scenarios, accumulating operational data and safety records, then aiming for passenger carrying, is a more stable path.

But Indonesia's operating environment is not simple. The archipelago climate is changeable, infrastructure varies, how to build a maintenance support system – these are all practical tests. Certification is a permit to fly, but whether it can fly well, fly safely, fly efficiently is another matter.

Greater Imagination

The most noteworthy aspect of this event might not be AutoFlight's breakthrough alone, but that it opens up a possibility: China has the opportunity to become a "standard exporter" in the low-altitude economy sector.

In the past in the civil aviation large aircraft field, airworthiness standards were long dominated by Europe and America. But on this new track of eVTOL, countries are still in the exploration stage. If China can leverage a complete industrial chain, rapid iteration capabilities, and accumulation of early application scenarios to form a set of standards recognized internationally first, that will be a leap from "selling products" to "selling rules".

This is far more meaningful than selling hundreds of aircraft.

This AutoFlight plane flying to Indonesia brings not only cargo, but also a low-altitude economy solution defined by China. And the true value of this world's first VTC might only be clearer when looking back in five years.