Alibaba's new internet-connected car can pay for gas and control your home appliances

Alibaba has been working on an internet-connected car for the past year, and just unveiled the project's first model.

The internet giant on Wednesday showed off its new SUV, the Roewe RX5, that it built along with state-owned automotive manufacturer SAIC (formerly the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation).

The new car, which is set to deliver in August and is already up for pre-order, will run a smart dashboard based on Alibaba's YunOS software that already powers phones and tablets from other makers along with a host of other appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Alibaba explains in a demo video that, like a personal mobile phone, each car is a unique device in an individual's array of gadgets. For instance, the car can pay for gas without the driver getting out and going through a payment app on the phone or taking out a physical credit card.

Theoretically, a web-connected car can send a signal to the air conditioning unit back home when you're nearly there to switch on before you arrive.

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In the video, which features Alibaba founder Jack Ma sitting in the back seat, a drone flies above the car following its directions automatically sans human intervention, Alibaba executives claim.

"The location of the car is the command," Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang says.

Alibaba, often called the Amazon of China, runs the largest ecommerce platform in the country with its Alibaba.com and Taobao properties. Naturally, it's making the new RX5 vehicle available for pre-order through its Tmall site.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

According to the listing, the Roewe RX5 will come in 1.5 turbo and 2.0 turbo engine versions, with price tags ranging from 99,800 yuan ($14,941) to 186,800 yuan ($27,966) depending on feature sets.

Alibaba and SAIC announced last March that they would partner equally in a 1 billion yuan ($149 million) fund to develop the internet-connected cars.

YunOS-powered wheels won't just stop at SAIC-made cars. Alibaba says other automakers will be able to use the OS to power their smart dashboards or other gadgets.

YunOS cars won't just be an extension of the user's smartphone.

Alibaba's entry to the connected car market puts it in competition with the likes of Google's Android Auto and Apple's CarPlay. But those companies require drivers' phones to connect, thereby acting more like an extended smartphone displays.

As Alibaba points out in the video above, it aims for YunOS cars to run independently of the user's phone, adding to the individual's internet footprint to form a fuller picture of someone's habits.

Fellow Chinese internet giant Baidu is also eyeing the automotive race, although it's looking more specifically at autonomous cars. Baidu has been working with German automaker BMW to produce driverless cars in China, and started testing them late last year.

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