Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and BMW AG will team up to produce AI for cars in China, as the tech giant looks to monetize its emerging products and reach more customers.
BMW will adopt AI cockpit technology from Alibaba-backed Banma for its upcoming models tailored for the Chinese market, the companies said Wednesday in a joint statement. Banma’s technology is the product of collaboration with Alibaba’s own Qwen model team.
The carmaker is building a new intelligent personal assistant with enhanced voice recognition and trip planning features that will be rolled out next year in new models produced in China. The in-car AI agent can offer parking and nearby restaurant recommendations as well as real-time traffic light information.
Alibaba said its Qwen model has been used in cars produced by Chinese automakers Xpeng, Zeekr and Leapmotor.
Alibaba has been aggressively pivoting its focus to AI over the past few months, pledging to invest more than 380 billion yuan ($52 billion) on AI infrastructure such as data centers over the next three years. Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu said in February that the pursuit of artificial general intelligence is now the company’s “primary objective.” The company also scored a coveted role providing AI technology to Apple Inc.’s iPhones in China, which are due to be rolled out in the coming months.
BMW, meanwhile, relies on China as a major market while facing another challenging year with intensifying competition in the world’s No. 2 economy, which is dominated by local electric vehicle makers led by BYD Co.
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