Ford-owned Autonomic, Alibaba Cloud ink MoU to launch Transportation Mobility Cloud in China

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Autonomic, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Smart Mobility, and Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on August 14 to launch the Transportation Mobility Cloud (TMC) in China, the world’s cutting-edge transportation and mobility solution for Internet of Vehicles (IoV) developed by Autonomic.

Based on Alibaba Cloud platform, the TMC will serve as an open, secure and efficient cloud-based platform that provides standardized data and application programming interface (API) for users to quickly develop value-added software programs for interacting with connected vehicles. The newly-designed software could help deliver a better vehicular connectivity and mobility experience for Chinese consumers, such as helping drivers plan proper transit journeys, managing the fleet for ride-hailing services and remotely deploying autonomous vehicles on roads. 

Under the partnership, both parties will provide technical support for China's transportation ecosystem, which comprises multiple parties, including automakers, public traffic operators, large-scale fleet operators and software developers, so as to improve the vehicle connectivity and mobility experience for Chinese consumers.

In addition, Autonomic and Alibaba Cloud agreed to explore more cooperative opportunities in the transportation and mobility domains, for the purpose of building a safer, more efficient and sustainable transportation ecosystem in China. 

Founded in 2009, Alibaba Cloud is among the world's top 3 IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) providers, according to Ford Motor's introduction of its partner. The Alibaba's cloud computing arm has made a wide-range of layouts in such areas as IoV, vehicular operating system, intelligent mobility and smart city. 

In February 2018, Ford Smart Mobility announced the acquisition of the Silicon Valley-based startup Autonomic to speed up innovation in intelligent mobility area. Currently, Autonomic has set up a Chinese branch in Shanghai to boost the TMC business expansion and serve local customers better.