Toyota and Nissan partner with Tencent and Baidu for AI tech

On Thursday, Toyota Motor of Japan announced partnering with China's Tencent, whereas Nissan will partner with Baidu. These cross-border collaborations signify the importance of artificial intelligence for automotive manufacturers.

Toyota’s new products for the Chinese Market

These announcements from Japan’s two largest automakers at the Beijing Autoshow emphasise their efforts to adapt to significant technological changes that pose a challenge to their previous strong positions in the Chinese market. Apart from this, Toyota also revealed two new battery-operated EVs for the Chinese market at this show.

Until a while ago, Japanese car companies were one of China’s most established foreign brands. However, these companies are now losing their reputation in the country as several of BYD’s local manufacturers have captured market share with software-rich EVs targeting young drivers.

AI tech integration

Baidu, China’s most popular search engine, and Tencent a social media and gaming firm, have emerged as leaders in the country’s generative AI competition.

Yiming Xu, Toyota's director for brand and communications in China, announced that Toyota will integrate technology from Tencent technology into a passenger vehicle from China which is about to be released this year.

Xu also mentioned these firms will provide services via Tencent’s big data strengths, cloud computing and AI.
Nissan announced a memorandum of understanding with Baidu to conduct research on AI and “smart cars”. Nissan plans to use Baidu’s generative AI to study potential advancements in the future of technology development.

Nissan will also add Baidu’s AI products to its Chinese cars.