Chinese state-owned automotive manufacturing firm FAW Group Corp has reportedly formed a new partnership with tech giant Alibaba Group Holdings. The two companies plan to collaborate in the development of next-generation smart vehicles that will take advantage of the country's rapidly growing 5G network capabilities.
The partnership will involve the use of the Alibaba-backed open mobility platform Banma Network Technology. According to a joint statement released by FAW and Alibaba on Thursday, the two companies hope to develop new operating systems and other mobility solutions that will promote digital intelligence and other high-tech advantages in China's car industry.
FAW Group, which has active partnerships with other major automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp and Mazda Motor Corp, plans to use Banma Technologies to design "smart cockpit solutions," which it plans to use in its upcoming offerings. The state-owned firm also plans to leverage Alibaba's cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies to build up its global digital infrastructure.
Alibaba's partnership with FAW marks its first official foray into the smart vehicle market following its announcement last year that it will be opening up its operating systems to the country's car industry. Apart from collaborating on building digital automotive platforms, the two companies also plan to team up in exploring other fields such as the Internet of things (IoT) and blockchain technologies.
The strategic alliance has been seen as a direct response to the recent partnership between Tencent Holdings, China Mobile, and Dongfeng Motor Corp. The three companies had teamed up to also develop their own connected vehicle systems in preparation for China's rapid adoption of 5G network services.
As China continues its efforts to roll out 5G networks across the nation, industry players are now busy preparing their products to adapt to the new technologies. Smartphones, consumer devices, vehicles, and other manufacturing sectors are now all scrambling to take advantage of the more advanced infrastructure, which promises to provide faster access to data.
5G network technologies, which boast data rates of up to 100 times faster than 4G, offers a lot of advantages to manufacturers in various industries as it can be utilized as the foundation for platforms such as smart cities, internet of things (IoT) devices, and autonomous driving vehicles.
Part of China's 5G initiative will be to have at least 30 percent of cars sold in the market be "intelligent connected vehicles" by 2025. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, these types of vehicles should be capable of communication with other vehicles and offer a wide range of automated features powered by 5G-network connectivity.
