Alibaba Group holding has announced its collaboration state-controlled SAIC Motor Corp for developing internet-connected vehicles. The technology laden vehicles have already managed to catch the fancy of Chinese billionaires. Well known as “car on the internet” the company shall first invest about 1 Billion Yuan for its developments. Services like Map, Communication, Entertainment, Communication and cloud shall be integrated by Alibaba.
The SAIC’s official site also stated that the first product as a part of this venture may go live sometime in 2016. A Post by Alibaba stated, “SAIC and Alibaba will use our advantages to set technology, service and customer experience standards in connected vehicles.” As per China National Radio, Miao Yu, minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said, “China’s new-energy vehicle sector is just starting. We hope to have some new fish in the water.”
Many Chinese Internet companies have started to foray into smart-car sector and the government hopes to bring-in innovation into the traditional auto market. Another popular Chinese operator of search engine named Baidu said that the company too has been working on bringing an autonomous car early this year.
