Huawei reportedly launched a smart car solutions Business Unit (BU) late last week that should help propel the company towards a competitive stance in the intelligent vehicle market.
According to the new report, an internal email sent to Huawei employees revealed that the new BU will be reporting to the CEO even if the Chinese tech giant does not have plans to develop its own smart auto yet.
"As the key technology of automotive industry continues to accelerate towards information and communication technology (ICT) from manufacturing, digitalization, and intelligence vehicles are becoming two key battlefields that ICT leaders to make a foray into," the internal email reportedly stated.
In line with the report, analysts suggested that Huawei seeks to provide automakers with car-oriented parts that are centered primarily on digital innovations that should help make life easier for car owners.
It appears that the firm prepared for the launch of its smart car components arm. Last year, Huawei announced that the Audi Q7 has been integrated with the company's mobile data platform.
In April, Huawei and Volvo signed a deal to develop a platform that should focus on in-car services. The collaboration is similar to the agreement the company secured with Beijing Electric Vehicle Company (BJEV) earlier this year wherein the two sides will cooperate to build smart vehicle tech.
Aside from the abovementioned deals, Huawei's Rotating Chairman Xu Jun (Eric Xu) also revealed at the Auto Shanghai 2019 Key Tech Forum that the company will work on intelligent car solutions.
The services include the Mobile Data Center (MDC), 4G/5G in-car communication T-Box, the Octopus cloud-based autonomous driving service, mPower for battery management, and HiCar for home-car connectivity.
Huawei's latest ventures came in the midst of a legal battle against the United States government and U.S. President Donald Trump. The company recently filed a motion against the White House after it was banned from cooperating with American firms.
Google has already dropped its business with the Chinese tech behemoth in response to the Trump administration's call for cutting ties with Huawei. Microsoft has also removed Huawei laptops from its official website.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government has stood firmly behind China's leading tech firm. Beijing released a white paper stating its side on the trade war that has been escalated after the White House ban of Huawei.
The Chinese government said the Trump administration "backtracked" on negotiations and agreements regarding the highly elusive China-U.S. trade deal. Analysts said Huawei was caught in the middle of the dispute between the world's largest economies.
