Asianfin -- Robin Zeng, the founder and chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), recently shared details of a conversation with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, where he directly told Musk that his bet on cylindrical batteries (the 4680 battery) "will fail and never succeed." “We had a very intense debate, and I showed him why cylindrical batteries won't work,” Zeng recalled. “He was silent afterward. He doesn’t know how to make batteries. It’s an electrochemical issue. What he excels at are chips, software, hardware, and mechanics.” Despite this disagreement, Zeng expressed agreement with Musk’s views on the potential of AI-powered autonomous driving technology. Musk’s approach to self-driving technology, which relies entirely on cameras and AI, aims to create affordable autonomous vehicles for mass production. In contrast, Musk's competitors focus on developing more expensive vehicles with redundant safety technologies, which are designed for taxi and delivery services. "He’s fully committed to the autonomous driving strategy, and I think it’s a great direction," Zeng said.