Gasgoo.com (Shanghai March 3) - With the coming of the Chinese new year, the popularity of network connected cars has hit an all new high. Chery, cooperating with yongche.com and automobile R&D company Pateo, has announced its plans to develop a brand new generation of so-called smart cars. Mobile phone giant Apple also announced plans to develop into this rapidly growing segment at the recently held Consumer Electronics Show.
According to statistics, the global connected car market is predicted to value 300 billion yuan ($48.74b) within the next three to five years. By 2015 approximately 60 percent of the world’s automobiles are predicted to be equipped with network technology. That figure is set to reach 90 percent by 2020.
In the past, manufacturers often highlighted connectivity features as a selling points for this vehicles. However, now with more and more vehicles coming standard with such features. GPS navigation, social networking and other connectivity features are already standard on a variety of vehicles, whether they be from luxury automobile manufacturers, joint venture enterprises or domestic own brand companies.
Several technology enterprises have also entered the fray. For example, Pateo, in addition to its partnership with Chery, also announced the iVokaMiniX package last year. Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and others have also ambitious automobile-related projects of their own.
