Foreign artificial intelligence in-vehicle system providers have been seeking deeper cooperation with Chinese automakers to help them navigate software localization challenges and achieve long-term growth in overseas markets, a senior executive said.
The call for collaboration comes as China’s auto exports continue to surge. According to the latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the country’s auto exports reached 1.352 million units in the first two months, up 48.4 percent year-on-year. New energy vehicles have become the core driver of this expansion, with exports skyrocketing 110 percent to 583,000 units, accounting for 43.1 percent of the total.
Chinese independent brands are accelerating their global layout across multiple regions, including Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. For instance, BYD’s overseas sales exceeded 200,000 units in the first two months, accounting for over half of its total sales. XPeng plans to launch at least four new models for export in 2026, aiming to double its overseas sales this year and reach 1 million units by 2030. Meanwhile, GAC Group has set a target of 250,000 to 300,000 overseas sales for 2026, with plans to build over 1,000 global channel networks within the year.
However, as Chinese automakers expand globally, particularly in the Commonwealth of Independent States markets, they face significant hurdles in “software localization”, such as inaccurate navigation, unresponsive voice control and incompatible ecosystems.
To address these pain points, Moscow-based Yandex Auto is offering an integrated digital ecosystem to bridge the gap.
Zhou Tian, senior business director at Yandex Auto China, said that the significance of software localization goes beyond merely selling cars. It is about delivering long-term value to the market and allowing brands to truly take root locally.
“To achieve this, automakers must have a profound understanding of local user habits,” Zhou said. He added that as an established internet service provider, Yandex possesses deep insights into local user profiles, which can be fed back to Chinese automakers to help them define and develop products with better targeting from the very beginning.
Compared to fragmented apps where navigation and music are developed by different companies, Yandex offers a highly integrated ecosystem that ensures smoother operation and adaptation, Zhou said, adding that the seamless connection of user habits is a key advantage.
Yandex’s AI assistant Alice has nearly 80 million monthly active users on mobile devices — covering about half of Russia’s population. Users are already accustomed to interacting with the service daily at home and on their phones.
When Chinese vehicles integrate this system, it allows for a frictionless transition of digital life, Zhou explained. For example, points of interest, navigation routes, and locations shared via social media on a user’s phone can be directly synchronized to the car, creating a highly familiar and convenient user experience.
For Chinese automakers, building such a localized in-vehicle software system from scratch would be immensely time-consuming and costly. “We have refined these services over decades to reach their current state,” Zhou said, adding that leveraging an existing, mature ecosystem provides an efficient solution.
Currently supporting multiple regional languages, the platform aims to serve as a bridge, helping Chinese automakers overcome localization challenges.
renqi@chinadaily.com.cn