VW's Audi Deepens its Reliance on Chinese Tech Companies
German car maker Volkswagen has decided to deepen its collaboration with Chinese internet technology groups to offer more digital services to its luxury car line up Audi Reuters reported.
The German carmaker is seeking to race ahead of its competitors in the world's largest car market.
Audi and FAW-Volkswagen, VW's joint venture with FAW Car have signed letters of intent with Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent, Audi said on Sunday according to Reuters. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed to the public.
Parent company Volkswagen has been severely hobbled by a scandal over its apparent intentional rigging of emissions tests around the world, distracting the company from the global race to create computer-aided and software enabled services for drivers.
Reuters said that VW's CEO told a newspaper on Sunday that it has to remain in control of its relationship with car users, which is why it stopped talks with U.S. ride-hailing service Uber and technology giants Google and Apple.
Under the agreement with online search company Baidu, Audi aims to improve and widen the use of smartphone apps in its cars.
Its projects with social network and online gaming group Tencent include helping drivers to make better use of the WeChat communication app which is the most powerful social messaging app in all of China beating rivals Facebook messenger, Kakao Talk, Whatsapp and Viber by a mile.
The alliance with Alibaba, on the other hand, aims to develop more real-time traffic news services and 3D maps.
