ByteDance Pairs Up With Smartisan on Internet of Vehicles

ByteDance has paired up with Smartisan to launch its vehicle infotainment system for products such as TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin and content aggregation platform Jinri Toutiao, Chinese tech media 36Kr reported on Monday.

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“We are exploring different ways to meet the user demand at various car scenes,” said ByteDance’s response to 36Kr. “Our project is still in an early stage. We have around 20 research & development (R&D) people coming from Smartisan’s team.”

ByteDance has started cooperating with Smartisan in January 2019. The company acquired a number of smartphone-maker’s patents to expand and develop its online education business. Smartisan has filed a total of 64 patents since 2013, spanning voice-recognition technology, a keypad for mobile devices and a fingerprint scanner, which was later incorporated into the company’s flagship smartphone, the Smartisan R1 in May 2018.

ByteDance has had its eyes on the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) industry since last year when it participated in the Series C financing round of Chinese EV manufacturer Leading Ideal in August, pouring $30 million into the company.