Audi’s electric SUV, the E7X, will begin presales on May 8. The vehicle will incorporate AI features from ByteDance’s Doubao and iFlyTek.<\/p>\n
Evelyn Cheng | CNBC<\/p>\n
BEIJING \u2014 Chinese tech giant Alibaba<\/a> said Friday that its Qwen artificial intelligence model<\/a> will be integrated into vehicles from automakers including BYD<\/a> and a local joint venture of Volkswagen, as the industry pushes to add more in-car digital services and compete for buyers in a slowing electric vehicle market.<\/p>\n The model will run on Nvidia<\/a>‘s automotive chip system and is designed to function even with limited network connectivity.<\/p>\n Alibaba<\/a> said select models will allow drivers to order food delivery, book hotels, buy tickets to attractions and track packages, among other features, through voice commands.<\/p>\n The system combines on-device processing with cloud-based computing to interpret voice commands, plan multi-step tasks and connect to services such as payments and navigation.<\/p>\n Auto companies that will integrate Qwen into their vehicle systems include BYD<\/a>, Geely<\/a>, Li Auto<\/a>, Changan<\/a>, Dongfeng<\/a>, BAIC<\/a>, Great Wall Motor<\/a>, SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC IM Motors<\/a>. <\/p>\n The announcement was made on the opening day of the Beijing Auto Show 2026.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, FAW Group<\/a>‘s Hongqi brand integrated Qwen into its in-car system, debuting in the Hongqi HS6 plug-in hybrid model.<\/p>\n The rollout comes as Chinese automakers compete to attract buyers in a slowing electric-car market\u00a0and seek to differentiate through in-car software and services.<\/p>\n A local version of Audi in China, which replaces its four-ring logo with a wordmark, said its second model \u2014 an electric SUV called the E7X \u2014 will begin presales on May 8. The vehicle will incorporate AI features from ByteDance’s Doubao and iFlyTek<\/a>, Audi said at the auto show.<\/p>\n It was not immediately clear whether the AI features would be available in cars exported outside China.<\/p>\n Cadillac, the American luxury vehicle division of General Motors<\/a>, also showed off a new model\u00a0with voice-assistant capabilities that can connect with ByteDance’s Doubao AI.<\/p>\n