China's Geely teams up with Tencent on smart car tech

The companies will jointly develop smart car cockpits to have more mobile and mobility service applications, and explore testing of autonomous driving.

FILE PHOTO: A Geely Xingyue Coupe SUV is seen displayed at the second media day for the Shanghai auto show in Shanghai, China April 17, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo (REUTERS)

China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which owns Volvo Cars and holds 9.7% of Daimler, said on Tuesday it has signed an agreement with Tencent Holdings Ltd to develop smart vehicle cockpit and autonomous driving.

In the latest such partnership in the fast-evolving sector, the companies will jointly develop smart car cockpits to have more mobile and mobility service applications, and explore testing of autonomous driving, Geely said in a statement.

The deal with Tencent, which has investments in EV makers including Tesla and Nio, is developing smart car technologies, is the third recent partnership by Hangzhou-based Geely with companies involved in the tech sector.

Geely said this month it would launch a smart electric vehicle (EV) company with Baidu Inc and later that it would form a separate venture with Foxconn to provide contract manufacturing for automakers.