Intelligent, connected cars hold keys to the future

Underpinning that goal is Alibaba's acceleration into real-world testing of autonomous driving. The company announced in September that its driverless fleet had been granted test license plates by the authorities in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

Another internet giant, Tencent Holdings Ltd, is not far behind. Currently, Tencent has signed strategic cooperation agreements with FAW, BMW, GAC, Changan and other automakers. Several models powered by Tencent's internet of vehicles system, AI in Car, are already on the market.

Pony Ma, chairman and CEO of Tencent, said the company is designing a voice interaction system to help drivers safely send and receive messages, minimizing drivers' distractions while driving.

"Carmakers are the leaders of the intelligent connected vehicle industry, and Tencent's position is clearly as an 'assistant' to carmakers, which helps the automobile industry achieve transformation and upgrading," Ma said.

"No automotive enterprise can provide all the resources and capabilities required to produce an intelligent connected vehicle. The future of the automobile industry needs efforts from internet tech giants and traditional carmakers," he said.

His comments were echoed among major Chinese carmakers.

"Traditional automobile enterprises and internet technology companies are naturally and strongly complementary," said Xu Heyi, chairman of Beijing Automotive Group Co, or BAIC Group.

BAIC Group unveiled its five-year plan, which aims to equip all of its products with world-leading self-driving or intelligent connected technologies by 2020.

"BAIC should strengthen its industrial presence in high-performance sensors, controllers, computing platforms, automatic driving systems and high-precision maps," Xu said.

The group will cooperate with world-leading electronics company Bosch, Chinese tech giant Baidu, Chinese voice technology firm iFlytek Co, and other tech firms to integrate high-quality resources across the globe and to build an open intelligent connected vehicle ecosystem, Xu said.

BAIC is not the first carmaker that has decided to build such an open vehicle ecosystem.

BYD Co Ltd has launched its own car app platform, D++. Using the platform, app developers can gain access to 66 control rights, 341 sensors and extensive vehicle data.

"We are the first car brand to open all sensors and controls," said Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD. "It is also the first step in the process of establishing a fully open vehicle ecosystem."

The platform has already attracted dozens of partners, including Baidu with its self-driving Apollo system, online security company 360 Security Technology Inc, and AI specialist Horizon Robotics Inc.