Lei Jun Urges Industry-Education Integration to Address Million-Strong Talent Gap in Smart, Connected New Energy Vehicles

During the 2026 National Two Sessions, Lei Jun, a national deputy to the National People's Congress and founder of Xiaomi Group, proposed a recommendation highlighting that China faces a shortage of over one million interdisciplinary talents in the field of intelligent connected new-energy vehicles. The industry is currently undergoing profound transformation: as traditional roles shrink, companies struggle to find high-salary candidates who possess cross-disciplinary expertise spanning AI, automotive engineering, and real-world application scenarios. With L2-level advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) now exceeding 50% market penetration, software-defined vehicles are becoming the norm, creating urgent demand for professionals capable of integrating multiple domains—including perception, decision-making, and control—into cohesive systems. Lei Jun recommended establishing "Intelligent Electric Vehicles" as a primary interdisciplinary academic discipline, promoting joint talent development across university departments, and deepening industry-academia collaboration through a "dual-mentor system" and hands-on projects to accelerate talent deployment. Automakers such as Geely and Volkswagen have already begun building industry-education integration hubs to shorten the transition cycle from classroom learning to industrial application.