SHENZHEN-BASED company Huawei is stepping up its efforts to bring 5G-connected vehicles to the market under an initiative to jointly build a 5G automobile ecosphere with major automotive makers, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported Thursday.

Its HiCar3.0, a smartphone-to-vehicle mobile phone interconnection solution, similar to Apple CarPlay, is expected to reach the market in the third quarter of this year and the telecommunications giant has formed an alliance with an initial batch of 18 companies in China to accelerate the commercial deployment of 5G cars, according to the report.

HiCar debuted at the Huawei Developers Conference in August last year. Huawei consumer business CEO Yu Chengdong demonstrated the HiCar solution, connecting mobile phones with a car to share multimedia, using a mobile phone as a car key, at the conference.

According to the report, Huawei HiCar ecological partners include more than 30 car manufacturers with more than 120 models. The 18 companies that have signed up recently to become part of Huawei’s 5G automobile ecosphere include FAW Group Corp., SAIC Motor Corp. and Dongfeng Motor Corp.

The 5G automobile ecosphere is Huawei’s attempt to increase its advantage in the 5G field and explore the car-to-Internet market.  (Han Ximin)