[其他] Tencent builds autonomous driving team in Silicon Valley [推广有奖]

Tencent is building an autonomous driving team in Silicon Valley, in the latest sign of the Chinese tech giant moving into new areas as its traditional growth engines such as gaming stall.

The company behind social media platform WeChat has posted an advertisement on job portal LinkedIn seeking autonomous driving experts and researchers to join the US branch with“cutting edge technologies in Machine Learning” in its overseas driverless technology development.

Tencent started implementing its auto sector plan last year, when it announced an initiative to team up with Guangzhou Automobile Group to develop smart cars, as the company competed with domestic tech rivals to build a presence in the world’s largest car market.

Alibaba, the ecommerce group, and Baidu have both developed car operating systems through joint ventures and partnerships with Chinese carmakers.

This year, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Germany’s three largest carmakers, and  Chinese start-ups Jingchi and Pony.ai have also begun testing autonomous vehicles in China.

“As a Chinese company which is pursuing new markets and growing rapidly in the US, we maintain an entrepreneurial spirit and open mindset,” Tencent said in the LinkedIn job ad, which was first reported by Reuters.

Tencent has had a torrid year, with its share price down more than 29 per cent from January. The company was hit again in August, when the Chinese government proposed curbing the ability for tech groups to make money from new games.

The government also moved to limit the amount of time children spend playing games online, over concerns about the levels of short-sightedness in the country and the addictive nature of games. Tencent generates the bulk of its revenues from gaming.

A spokesperson for Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.