The domestic Internet is developing rapidly. What is the competitive situation in the Internet of Vehicles?

rock-paper-scissors.

China's Internet environment is extremely prosperous, which gives car companies more room to play in the field of in-vehicle connectivity.

As the three major Internet giants in China, BAT cannot miss this feast and naturally become the main partners of car manufacturers. In addition, some technology companies with outstanding single capabilities can also get a share of this field.

It seems that the competition in China's Internet of Vehicles has developed into a three-way competition, just like the three roles in a rock-paper-scissors game, none of which can be missing. Today, let's talk about the development progress and competitive situation of these three players in the past one or two years.

BAT's layout of in-vehicle interconnection
Alibaba's development of Internet of Vehicles:

Alibaba has multiple legs in the field of passenger car networking, which can be understood as Zebra/AutoNavi/Tmall Genie.

Banma released Banma Smart Driving 1.0 in 2016, and has been updating it every year since then, releasing more features, among which the AI ​​scene engine and AR navigation are the most important. This is a complete in-vehicle operating system, and users can choose modularly according to their needs.

There are three forms of Amap's output capabilities:

1. Implant the AutoNavi Map car version.

2. A pre-installed system jointly developed by AutoNavi and Tmall Genie (like Zebra, it is built on AliOS).

3. Aftermarket products jointly developed by AutoNavi and Tmall Genie: Tmall Genie AutoNavi version of smart car box.

Tmall Genie: In addition to the two pre-installation and post-installation solutions bundled with AutoNavi, Tmall Genie can also be implanted in the car as an independent voice system. Current partners include Daimler, BMW, Volvo, Audi and other car companies.

Baidu's Internet of Vehicles Development:

In 2017, Baidu launched the voice interaction system DuerOS, and in 2018 released Xiaodu car OS. This year, Xiaodu car OS was upgraded to add AI scene engine and car mini-program functions.

In addition, Baidu Carlife is the first mobile phone-car interconnection system in China, and together with Apple CarPlay, it has become the mainstream solution for car-mobile phone interconnection in China.

Tencent's Internet of Vehicles Development:

In 2017, Tencent launched the AI ​​in Car ecosystem, which provides voice interaction functions and Internet of Vehicles services backed by Tencent's social and content ecosystem.

In 2018, Tencent upgraded AI in Car to TAI automotive intelligent system, with new features including in-car mini-programs, scenario-based maps, multi-mode human-computer interaction and in-car WeChat.

In 2019, Tencent upgraded the TAI automotive intelligent system to an ecological Internet of Vehicles solution (the name is getting longer every year), with core capabilities including Tencent Small Scenes, AI Scene Engine, Super ID and WeChat Pay.

In short, Alibaba's Zebra provides a complete modular system that does not output a single capability; AutoNavi not only outputs a single capability, but also makes front- and rear-end system-level products; Tmall Genie is a lightweight solution for car companies to connect to the Alibaba ecosystem.

Baidu's core advantages are AI and voice systems. It can provide a complete system that can be quickly customized, and can also output individual capabilities in a modular manner.

Tencent does not develop its own systems, but relies on its advantages in social networking and content to provide automakers with application functions that can be quickly deployed.

How do you evaluate the current development of BAT?
BAT has developed to this stage in the field of Internet of Vehicles. There are always some topics discussed in the industry, but I don’t completely agree with them. Here are my thoughts:

1. Alibaba has the first-mover advantage, while Baidu and Tencent are latecomers and have surpassed it.

From the perspective of development, Alibaba has always been the first to propose some concepts that are highly recognized by the industry, such as scene engine, map main interface, AR navigation, etc. Now, Baidu and Tencent have basically followed suit in terms of layout, and their customers seem to be no less than Zebra, so there have been many comments that are pessimistic about Zebra.

In my opinion, although Baidu and Tencent have laid out some functions later, it still depends on the product experience. Some things cannot be accomplished by poaching people. Another point is that Alibaba is now facing an industry bottleneck, which Baidu and Tencent will also encounter in the future. All three may be stuck here.

In addition, this is only the beginning of the competition in the Internet of Vehicles, just like running only 50 meters in a 1,000-meter race. It is too early to talk about who will come first and who will come later.

2. BAT cannot truly talk about "openness".

BAT is willing to export "generic products" because the cost per person in Internet companies is high and needs to be spread out by scale. However, car companies care about "differentiation" and are very averse to their products being too similar to those of competitors. This is a contradiction from the root.

Being open and accepting more customers means deeper customization, more manpower/working hours/costs, and it may end up being a losing deal.

Baidu is the only one among BAT that is not deeply tied to car companies in terms of capital, so in theory Baidu is the most open. But after experiencing the "Ford SYNC+ System" and "Haval H6 System" deeply developed based on Xiaodu OS, I found that the overall logic is actually very similar.

So even if it is not a universal product, there are universal technologies and frameworks behind it. The key is the degree of differentiation. How to satisfy both customers and more customers in the future is a question Baidu needs to think about.

3. A company can be considered to have good development only if it has many cooperating brands and many models launched.

More products mean greater influence, so Alibaba/Tencent initially chose to rely heavily on one or two automakers, such as SAIC & Alibaba, Changan & Tencent, and GAC & Tencent.

But while looking at the volume, we also need to look at the profit trend. Some cooperations with large volumes may not necessarily make money; some cooperations with small volumes may not necessarily not make money. The customers are yours now, but they may belong to others in the future. Car manufacturers are also testing the waters.

The cooperation between the two parties is not only to create a more perfect product that is closer to the needs of users, but the fundamental purpose is to make profits for both parties. Some short-term cooperation may not be profitable, it may be a gamble on future profits. This kind of loss-making business often happens in the Internet industry.

As outsiders, since we cannot see the distribution of benefits within the cooperation, we have no way of guessing how the cooperation was achieved. Therefore, having many cooperative brands does not mean the highest profit. It depends on whether it is a healthy business model and whether there are better prospects in the future.

Companies with outstanding single business capabilities are also looking for industry status
. Of course, in the field of Internet of Vehicles, there are not only the three BAT functional ecosystem suppliers, but also some companies with outstanding single business capabilities, such as iFlytek, Nuance, NavInfo, Huawei, Tingban, etc.

iFlytek, which originated from intelligent voice, released Feiyu OS, a voice operating system architecture. It also integrates some services of AutoNavi, QQ Music and Meituan, hoping to provide car companies with "software and hardware separation" aggregation services.

Nuance is also a company focused on voice, with clients covering many car brands, and currently more than 280 million vehicles are equipped with its technology. In October this year, its automotive business will be split off to become an independent listed company, with a focus on multi-modal interaction and automotive software.

NavInfo, which was originally a map provider, is developing the Internet of Vehicles while focusing on autonomous driving. In the field of Internet of Vehicles, it has pre-installation cooperation with car companies and WeLink car interconnection solutions. At the same time, it has signed a strategic cooperation year framework with some car companies, such as Qiantu Automobile, and has in-depth cooperation in mapping, navigation, Internet of Vehicles, autonomous driving, chips, etc.

Huawei, which released Hongmeng OS today, has set up a separate smart car solution BU, which shows that their ambition is not only in the Internet of Vehicles. It mainly provides ICT components and solutions for smart cars for automakers. The Internet of Vehicles is one part of it, and more is in the "hardware" and "cloud services" related to the digitalization/intelligence of automobiles. In terms of the Internet of Vehicles, Huawei can help automakers build in-vehicle computing platforms/intelligent driving subsystem solutions, as well as HiCar car-home interconnection solutions.

Tingban is a car audio company, formerly known as Kaola FM. Li Bin once invested 200 million yuan in it in his personal name. Last year, it released a strategy to enter the Internet of Vehicles with car audio, and to build itself into an in-car entertainment content platform integrating entertainment, navigation (provided by AutoNavi Maps), voice (provided by iFlytek), and car control.

Of course, there are also established car networking companies like Baidu, and there is no need to say much about them.

It can be seen that many companies want to take over the entire Internet of Vehicles market, but at present, almost all of them have failed. Companies with outstanding single capabilities are indeed not as advantageous as BAT in terms of integrating ecosystems and building underlying systems.