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| Tencent wants to help build smart cars |
Tencent wants to sell technology to help foreign automakers sell cars in China's electric car market.
The company does not intend to become a car manufacturer. But he wants to help automakers build high-quality cars, make marketing and corporate management more efficient, and improve the travel experience.
"BMW and some US automakers are working with Tencent," said the company's vice president of smart mobility, which is part of the Cloud and Smart Industry Group.
To further its international strategy, the company has launched a new cloud computing product for automakers called Tencent Smart Car Cloud.
A complete cloud solution for the smart car industry - also available to local car manufacturers - covers all technical aspects of electric vehicles.
These features include improved data storage and training for self-driving systems, as well as driver access to the company's social media and mapping apps.
Since the company controls some of the best online entertainment apps in China, the user interface could be a selling point for Chinese drivers.
The company plays Facebook in China through WeChat messaging, payments and social media apps.
The company also offers other entertainment apps, such as QQ Music, one of the top two Spotify apps in China.
It also has a video app that offers on-demand content including live series and anime. In addition to popular mobile games such as King Glory. Its Maps app is the third most popular map app on the Apple App Store in China.
All vehicles that allow passengers or drivers to access Tencent apps from the vehicle platform must have an agreement with Tencent.
These application-level collaborations began in 2018, around the same time cloud company Tencent began partnering with automakers to offer self-driving services.
Tencent is using its cloud technology to help automakers
Players in China's auto industry are increasingly betting that domestic drivers want more self-driving capabilities.
23% of new cars sold in China in the first quarter were equipped with limited driver assistance. This is Level 2 in the Autonomous Driving Rating System.
With the release of new cloud computing products, foreign automakers in China can develop vehicles with navigation and auxiliary driving functions suitable for on-road and off-road.
"We provide cloud services for data storage," the company said. We also offer a complete ecosystem. This ecosystem includes our services, our content, and those of our partners.
Tencent has nearly 40 car brands with 120 models. Cooperation negotiations were also held with German and Japanese companies.
China, the world's largest auto market, has seen an increase in electric vehicle sales. Government support contributes to the growth of the industry.
The government is also making it easier for drivers to obtain licenses for cars that run on electricity instead of fuel.
Besides Tesla, national brands dominate the new car category, which includes hybrid and battery cars.
China is also the largest single market for German auto giant Volkswagen. Volkswagen aims to have fully electric cars account for half of sales by 2030.