Alibaba partners SAIC on $160 million connected car fund

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is starting a 1 billion yuan fund with SAIC Motor Corp., China’s largest automaker, to develop a connected car that may go on sale next year.

阿里巴巴控股集团有限公司正在启动10亿元人民币的资金，与中国最大的汽车制造公司——上海汽车集团股份有限公司合作开发互联网汽车，并计划在明年推向市场。

Alibaba, Asia’s largest Internet company, and SAIC Motor are setting up a joint venture to create a platform for development and operation of the Web-enabled car, the Shanghai-based carmaker said in an e-mailed statement. Besides providing cloud computing, Alibaba will also add digital entertainment, maps and financial data, the Hangzhou, China-based company said on its microblog.

上汽集团位于上海的公司在电子邮件声明中提到，阿里巴巴是亚洲最大的互联网公司，上汽集团正与其合作投资，以建设一个用于发展和操作互联网汽车的平台。而其位于杭州的公司在微博中透露，除了提供云计算，阿里巴巴还会加入电子娱乐、地图和经济资讯服务。

The Chinese e-commerce giant is the latest to join a clutch of Internet companies foraying into connected vehicle projects as China encourages companies outside the traditional auto industry to tie up with existing manufacturers to spur innovation and competition. China’s largest search engine operator Baidu Inc. said it may introduce an autonomous car this year, joining companies like Google Inc.

很多互联网公司都加入了抢占互联网汽车市场的计划中。由于中国政府鼓励非传统汽车业与现有的制造商合作，以激发创新和竞争，阿里巴巴这个中国电子商务巨头便成为了最新加入的一个。而中国最大的搜索引擎运营公司百度表示将会与谷歌这样的公司合作，并可能在今年推出一款自动汽车。

“In the age of the Internet economy, cross-boundary integration has become an inevitable trend,” SAIC said in the statement. “The cars of the future must be Internet-oriented.”

上汽集团在声明中说到：“在这个互联网经济时代，跨领域合作已经成为了不可避免的趋势。”“汽车的未来一定会是以互联网为中心的。”

Among other Chinese companies, Leshi Internet Information & Technology Co., a maker of Web-enabled TVs, has said it would invest billions of dollars into developing a connected electric car.

在其他中国公司中，网络电视商乐视网信息技术股份有限公司也表示，其将会投资数十亿美元用于开发电子网络汽车。

Apple Inc. has been working on an electric auto and is pushing to begin production as early as 2020, people with knowledge of the matter said last month. Google said in January it aims to have a self-driving car on the road within five years.

据知情人士透露，苹果公司已经在研发电子网络汽车了，而且还把生产计划提早到了2020年。而谷歌公司也在1月份说过，他们的目标是在5年内推出自动驾驶汽车。