Alibaba’s Qwen AI is coming to cars, allowing drivers order food and book hotels by voice

alibaba said friday its qwen ai model will go into cars from byd, geely, li auto, and a volkswagen joint venture in china. the system runs on nvidia's automotive chip and works with limited network. drivers can order food, book hotels, buy attraction tickets, and track packages by voice. the announcement came on opening day of the beijing auto show 2026. automakers integrating qwen include byd, geely, li auto, changan, dongfeng, baic, great wall motor, saic volkswagen, and saic im motors. earlier this year, faw's hongqi brand put qwen in its hs6 plug-in hybrid. the rollout is happening as chinese automakers compete for buyers in a slowing ev market, using in-car software to stand out. audi's local china division said its e7x electric suv will begin presales on may 8, with ai from bytedance's doubao and iflytek. cadillac also showed a new model with doubao voice features. it's not clear if the ai features will be available in cars exported outside china.