Automotive Telematics Service Providers (TSP) and Application Services Research Report, 2023-2024
From January to September 2023, the penetration of telematics in passenger cars in China hit 77.6%, up 12.8 percentage points from the prior-year period. The rising penetration of telematics provides a market foundation for intelligent connected services, and consumers’ connection needs and usage habits take shape. Next how to provide diversified, personalized and intelligent application services using telematics big data will become the focus of major OEMs forging brand differentiation.
At present, China’s intelligent connected vehicle application services are mainly four scenario services: in-vehicle information services, after-sales information services, off-vehicle near-field services and off-vehicle remote services.
In-vehicle information services are mainly based on intelligent cockpit applications. In addition to conventional services such as infotainment, positioning, navigation, in-vehicle monitoring and rescue call, personalization, APP stores, vehicle gaming platforms, intelligent recommendations, scene engines, etc. have become hotspots of application services, which is accompanied by increasing big data applications in vehicles.
Centering on users’ needs for car usage and maintenance, after-sales information services provide remote diagnosis, one-button rescue, OTA updates, maintenance prompts and reservations, energy services for used cars and new energy vehicles, etc.
Off-vehicle near-field services are mainly enabled by near-field communications, such as digital keys like Bluetooth /UWB, smart watches, and off-vehicle interaction.
Off-vehicle remote services mainly use mobile phone APPs to remotely control vehicles, check vehicle conditions, detect vehicle status, etc.
First, IVI APP stores enhance the personalization and scalability of in-vehicle services.
With rich ecological applications, APP stores can not only enhance the personalized and entertaining experience for users, but also enables the scalability of the application ecosystem, for example, users can work in the vehicle using office and conference software. At this stage, Chinese brands like BYD, NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto are the first to install APP stores in their IVI systems. Their foreign peers are following suit.
In February 2023, The Driven, an Australian electric vehicle website, issued an article saying that Tesla may already be working on its own Apple-like app store that would enable car owners to download and install applications to their electric cars.
In March 2023, Volkswagen Group officially announced that it would bring a new app store to its multiple auto brands and car models. Users can enjoy a mass of third-party applications via the update.
Second, the deep integration of mobile phones and IVI will spur more application services.
Mobile phones offer the most contact points and the longest contact time in automotive application services, and have become a bridge connecting people with cars and other devices. Mobile phone APPs can not only be used for remote car control, but also provide social contact, test drive/car purchase services, financial services, valet services, and even customized scenes, car manual guide and user evaluation, becoming a carrier for OEMs to create full life cycle services for users.
APP Functions of Some Mobile Phone Brands
Note: √ means confirmed installation;
- means uninstallation or uncertain installation.
Source: ResearchInChina
At this stage, the special services offered by OEMs through mobile phone APPs mainly include:
1.Valet services
The enjoyable driving services of NIO are 7*24h customized services directly provided by NIO’s road service team according to users' demand. Using NIO APP, users can enjoy various valet services such as valet driving and accompanying, for example, accompanying the elderly to see a doctor and sending them to the hospital for physical examination, and accompanying children to do homework.
IM Care provides users with such services as door-to-door fine cleaning, door-to-door power supply, maintenance, and pick-up and delivery.
2. Feedback
Li Auto has set up a "word-of-mouth" section on its mobile phone APP, which enables users to evaluate vehicles in three dimensions: functions (appearance design, riding space, extended-range electric mode, chassis suspension, smart space and intelligent driving), services (after-sales service) and others (reasons for buying a car, satisfaction and expected improvements), thus creating a feedback channel for users.
3. Function introduction
Xpeng introduces the functions of Xpeng XPILOT to users via the intelligent driving section of the mobile phone APP. IM provides the manual guide for users via on the mobile phone APP.
4.Custom scenarios
NIO and Rising Auto set up scenario editors on their mobile phone APPs to enable users to add custom scenarios according to their preferences.
5. Brand co-creation
The Yuanshi Plan launched by IM encourages users to share mileage data, participate in interaction tasks and official co-creation activities on the APP, so as to enhance users' brand loyalty and achieve the effect of brand co-creation by way of issuing "original stones" (Yuanshi) and product redemption.
In addition, cross-terminal system applications such as HarmonyOS, and mobile phone vendors like OPPO, VIVO, Meizu and NIO Phone have entered IVI, bringing deeper integration of mobile phones and IVI. Cross-terminal data flow applications offer a bigger imaginable space to OEMs and suppliers, which may help to create more new services.
Third, the next-generation application service platform will build all-scenario service capabilities covering intelligent driving, cockpit and connectivity.
As E/E architectures tend to be centralized, automotive operating systems develop along the path of "IVI → cockpit → vehicle". In the era of vehicle operating systems, OEMs need to be based on SOA to realize cross-domain scheduling and functional integration among communication domain, cockpit domain and intelligent driving domain. There are two paths for OEMs to achieve cross-domain software integration: self-developing operating system platforms and application service platforms, represented by NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto; self-developing application service platforms but outsourcing operating system platforms to Neusoft, ThunderSoft and the like, represented by coventional automakers.
Therefore, emerging automakers such as NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto integrate the next-generation application service platforms with vehicle operating systems.
SkyOS, NIO’s next-generation operating system platform (including an application service platform), is an all-domain vehicle operating system, involving vehicle systems, driving assistance, intelligent cockpit, connected energy replenishment services and mobile Internet. It is applied to telematics, vehicle control, autonomous driving and digital cockpits.
LiOS, Li Auto’s next-generation operating system platform (including an application service platform), coupled with the self-developed LEEA 3.0 (a “central computing platform + zone controllers” architecture), combines intelligent driving domain, intelligent cockpit domain and vehicle control domain as a complete central domain.
Auto Shanghai 2025 Summary Report
The post-show summary report of 2025 Shanghai Auto Show, which mainly includes three parts: the exhibition introduction, OEM, and suppliers. Among them, OEM includes the introduction of models a...
Automotive Operating System and AIOS Integration Research Report, 2025
Research on automotive AI operating system (AIOS): from AI application and AI-driven to AI-native
Automotive Operating System and AIOS Integration Research Report, 2025, released by ResearchInChina, ...
Software-Defined Vehicles in 2025: OEM Software Development and Supply Chain Deployment Strategy Research Report
SDV Research: OEM software development and supply chain deployment strategies from 48 dimensions
The overall framework of software-defined vehicles: (1) Application software layer: cockpit software, ...
Research Report on Automotive Memory Chip Industry and Its Impact on Foundation Models, 2025
Research on automotive memory chips: driven by foundation models, performance requirements and costs of automotive memory chips are greatly improved.
From 2D+CNN small models to BEV+Transformer found...
48V Low-voltage Power Distribution Network (PDN) Architecture and Supply Chain Panorama Research Report, 2025
For a long time, the 48V low-voltage PDN architecture has been dominated by 48V mild hybrids. The electrical topology of 48V mild hybrids is relatively outdated, and Chinese OEMs have not given it suf...
Research Report on Overseas Cockpit Configuration and Supply Chain of Key Models, 2025
Overseas Cockpit Research: Tariffs stir up the global automotive market, and intelligent cockpits promote automobile exports
ResearchInChina has released the Research Report on Overseas Cockpit Co...
Automotive Display, Center Console and Cluster Industry Report, 2025
In addition to cockpit interaction, automotive display is another important carrier of the intelligent cockpit. In recent years, the intelligence level of cockpits has continued to improve, and automo...
Vehicle Functional Safety and Safety Of The Intended Functionality (SOTIF) Research Report, 2025
Functional safety research: under the "equal rights for intelligent driving", safety of the intended functionality (SOTIF) design is crucial
As Chinese new energy vehicle manufacturers propose "Equal...
Chinese OEMs’ AI-Defined Vehicle Strategy Research Report, 2025
AI-Defined Vehicle Report: How AI Reshapes Vehicle Intelligence?
Chinese OEMs’ AI-Defined Vehicle Strategy Research Report, 2025, released by ResearchInChina, studies, analyzes, and summarizes the c...
Automotive Digital Key (UWB, NearLink, and BLE 6.0) Industry Trend Report, 2025
Digital key research: which will dominate digital keys, growing UWB, emerging NearLink or promising Bluetooth 6.0?ResearchInChina has analyzed and predicted the digital key market, communication techn...
Integrated Battery (CTP, CTB, CTC, and CTV) and Battery Innovation Technology Report, 2025
Power battery research: 17 vehicle models use integrated batteries, and 34 battery innovation technologies are released
ResearchInChina released Integrated Battery (CTP, CTB, CTC, and CTV)and Battery...
AI/AR Glasses Industry Research Report, 2025
ResearchInChina released the " AI/AR Glasses Industry Research Report, 2025", which deeply explores the field of AI smart glasses, sorts out product R&D and ecological layout of leading domestic a...
Global and China Passenger Car T-Box Market Report 2025
T-Box Research: T-Box will achieve functional upgrades given the demand from CVIS and end-to-end autonomous driving
ResearchInChina released the "Global and China Passenger Car T-Box Market Report 20...
Automotive Microcontroller Unit (MCU) Industry Report, 2025
Research on automotive MCUs: the independent, controllable supply chain for automotive MCUs is rapidly maturing
Mid-to-high-end MCUs for intelligent vehicle control are a key focus of domestic produc...
Automotive LiDAR Industry Report, 2024-2025
In early 2025, BYD's "Eye of God" Intelligent Driving and Changan Automobile's Tianshu Intelligent Driving sparked a wave of mass intelligent driving, making the democratization of intelligent driving...
Software-Defined Vehicles in 2025: SOA and Middleware Industry Research Report
Research on automotive SOA and middleware: Development towards global SOA, cross-domain communication middleware, AI middleware, etc.
With the implementation of centrally integrated EEAs, OEM softwar...
Global and Chinese OEMs’ Modular and Common Technology Platform Research Report, 2025
Modular platforms and common technology platforms of OEMs are at the core of current technological innovation in automotive industry, aiming to enhance R&D efficiency, reduce costs, and accelerate...
Research Report on the Application of AI in Automotive Cockpits, 2025
Cockpit AI Application Research: From "Usable" to "User-Friendly," from "Deep Interaction" to "Self-Evolution"
From the early 2000s, when voice recognition and facial monitoring functions were first ...