Oppo Joins The Race To Create Autonomous Smart Cars

Autonomous car illustration (Photo by JavyGo on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Not a few mobile phone manufacturers began to look at the automotive industry. Huawei, in fact, is rumoured to be preparing chipsets for its first autonomous car.

Now Oppo is reportedly assembling its own car. Citing a report from Xiuxiushai, Oppo CEO and Founder Tony Chen was appointed to lead Oppo's first automotive project.

Chen and his team are rumoured to have spent the last few weeks investigating resources, recruiting talent from within the industry, and overall have tested the feasibility of this inaugural project.

However, a person close to the senior official also said that the company is currently only conducting investigations and discussions regarding the manufacture of the car and it is not yet known when the project will begin soon.

"Even in the manufacture of cars, we will focus on areas where Oppo can work well. If automakers can't make good cars and Oppo has power, we'll give it a try in the future," Chen said as quoted from Gizmochina.

That suggests that the Chinese smartphone company may still be in internal discussions, to decide whether to make its own cars or enter an industry similar to Huawei', which provides certain car parts and software for its smart electric vehicles.

Interestingly, the report states that Chen has met with Tesla suppliers and battery maker CATL in the past two weeks.

Similarly, Andy Wu, Vice President of Software Engineering of Oppo, also attended interviews for positions related to autonomous driving. In other words, companies seem to be looking at the development of self-driving technology, regardless of whether they make their own or offer their services to other automakers.