By Dai Qi
China's internet giant Tencent aims to connect individuals with smart transportation covering almost all types of transport vehicles, said the firm at the China Smart Transportation Conference held in Beijing on Tuesday.
By scanning a QR code on Wechat, China's most popular chatting software produced by Tencent, commuters in China's Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Xiamen, Ningbo, Jinan and Dali cities can easily pay for their buses, subways, ropeways and ferries.
"Tencent has been trying to connect individuals over the past 20 years with 1.04 billion active accounts on our mobile social app Wechat. Our foundations in cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and face recognition have made it possible for us to help digitalize transportation," said Howezheng, vice president of Tencent.
Howezheng, vice president of Tencent, spoke at the China Smart Transportation Conference held in Beijing on Tuesday. (Photo Credit: Tencent)
Since its first launch in Guangzhou in July 2017, the QR code has covered 50 million users in over 100 Chinese cities, and this is only one move of Tencent to collaborate with Chinese cities to develop smart transportation.
"With limited road resources, we have to find ways to get rid of traffic jams and maximize the use of existing transportation networks. So Tencent is trying to make the system more effective," said Howezheng.
Tencent and Shenzhen Airlines also announced that they are in collaborations with each other in forging smart aviation in all links.
From real name authentication, online membership registration, seat selection, to passing the security check and boarding by using a QR code, passengers can enjoy digital services based on their preferences, according to the two companies.
"Statistics show that public transportation only accounted from 20 to 40 percent of the transportation usage ratio currently in China. Compared to the over 50 to 70 percent ratio in Japan and Paris, we have a lot more to do for its expansion," said Howezheng.
