Audi inks deals with Chinese tech giants

To strengthen the digital footprint in its largest global market, Volkswagen's luxury car unit Audi China and the brand’s joint venture FAW-Volkswagen have signed deals with three Chinese internet giants.The carmaker has signed tripartite memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent respectively. The partners will deepen their cooperation in the areas of data analysis, internet-vehicle platform building and urban intelligent transport.“China has become an important lead market for digital technologies. Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are strong innovators. We are determined to work with them on features for the connected car of the future,” said Joachim Wedler, president of Audi China.In cooperation with Alibaba, the German company has integrated real time traffic data into Audi MMI and has become the first premium manufacturer in China to offer high-resolution 3D maps.Starting from 2017, Audi will launch Baidu CarLife in its local model line-up, for seamless transfer of Baidu’s popular app services between the customers’ digital devices and their cars.With Tencent, Audi is currently developing the integration of WeChat MyCar services into Audi models. The first features to be implemented will be location sharing and music sharing.The signing of the MOUs took place on 11 September during the Audi Brand Summit.