SAIC Motor and Alibaba Group, China’s e-commerce giant, say they are to jointly develop cars offering access to a broad range of online content and services.

The plan would see Alibaba’s Yun operating system, Xiami music service, Autonavi navigation technology and Aliyun cloud computing service built into SAIC’s cars.

Reports in China says the long-term goal of the partners is to produce fully “networked cars” that can communicate with each other and transport infrastructure. Ultimately, it could lead to much improved traffic management, more information services and even driverless cars.

SAIC has tried to make connectivity a selling point of its Roewe brand, some reports suggest. The partnership with Alibaba will help it to make more content available to car drivers and passengers.