Honda has announced plans to partner up with Chinese internet conglomerate Alibaba Group Holding to develop connected cars services. The move is part of the Japanese automaker’s strategy to penetrate the world’s largest automotive market,, and Honda will work with the Chinese group’s subsidiary AutoNavi.
Together, the two entities plan to develop a service that lets drivers make reservations using AutoNavi maps and make payments via Alibaba’s online platform Alipay. An announcement on the availability of such a service (to be featured in selected Honda cars) will be made at a later date, when decisions are finalised. According to the Nikkei, the new service would also let drivers pay for parking and fuel more conveniently.
The partnership between Honda and AutoNavi started in 2015, when a multipurpose car-navigation systems exploiting big data was deployed. This time around, they are looking to extend their collaboration by taking advantage of Alibaba’s wide range of services. Alibaba also supplies Chinese carmakers with voice-controlled GPS system as well as other in-car devices, and the conglomerate has recently announced that it will provide a similar system to Ford too.
Now, what does the term “connected car” actually mean? Well, here’s a broad definition: a connected car is one that is equipped with internet access and enables other smart devices to share the same source of online connectivity. The report said connected cars require much of the same tech as smartphones, such as payment platforms and artificial intelligence.
Developing connected cars is not all that Honda is doing in China, though. Apparently, the automaker has been actively pursuing a number of partnerships with local enterprises, one of which is to develop an electric vehicle with leading IT company Neusoft. The EV will be rolled out sometime this year. This is on the back of the republic’s electric offensive and its goal to be the leader in promoting electric vehicles, car-sharing and other next-generation automobile technologies.
To that end, internet companies have been playing a bigger role in the Chinese automotive sector in recent years, largely due to the development of self-driving tech and other cutting-edge developments.
Baidu, which operates China’s largest search engine, has announced its Apollo open-source autonomous-driving platform in July 2017. Apollo operates via artificial intelligence that’s being developed by Baidu and the Chinese government, and has since attracted over 1,700 domestic and international partners, including Daimler, Ford Motor and Intel.
Tencent Holdings, with a market capitalisation of 3.968 trillion Hong Kong dollars (RM2.038 trillion) as of January 2, 2018, has invested $1.77 billion (RM7.1 billion) in Tesla. It is investing in Chinese electric-vehicle startups as well. Company chairman and CEO Pony Ma Huateng said the future of automobiles lies in connected cars, and he has expressed plans to integrate Tencent cloud technology into such vehicles.
China’s President Xi Jinping doesn’t just want the country’s auto industry to be big, he also wants it to be competitive. Jinping has backed the development of next-generation technologies, such as self-driving cars and electric vehicles.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
