Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance signs a technical agreement with Google

Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi will install technologies in their cars that will allow motorists to use Google Maps, control music by talking and even forecast breakdowns.

The technology partnership between Google and the Alliance, the world's largest automaker, will deploy in vehicles starting in 2021 to develop services that will keep customers online, whether they drive or leave the car.

"Our ambition is to offer the same customer experience in the car as on a mobile phone," said Hadi Zablit, head of business development at the Alliance.

"It becomes an important feature when people choose their cars," he added. "It's a competitive advantage."

Automakers are struggling to install greater connectivity features into their vehicles in order to attract car buyers less attracted to traditional selling points such as performance.

Technology companies are also looking to integrate their features into the automobile, with the goal of getting more time for users on their services.

Ford is working on installing Amazon's Alexa function in its cars, while Volkswagen's Seat brand has also signed an agreement to put the voice assistant in its vehicles.

As part of the agreement between the Alliance and Google, the Android operating system will be installed on new vehicles, including the Voice Activated AI Assistant for Google, Google Maps and the Google Play Store.

In some areas, such as China, where Google does not operate, the company will likely pick another technology partner. The system will also support competing operating systems, such as Apple's iOS.

New features that the Alliance could implement in partnership include the ability to use features such as air conditioning, music or voice-activated roof-to-roof, as well as systems that can predict when the car breaks down.

The system, which uses AI to improve its accuracy, will also be able to learn the user's preferences, which will allow it to switch to classical music or the right air temperature when they enter the vehicle.

The Alliance is pursuing an ambitious plan to increase car sales from 10 million cars to 14 million cars by 2022 and to increase profits.

In this context, it also wants to launch its own fleet of passenger vehicles, enter areas such as transport services and connect 90% of its vehicles to the Internet within six years.

In 2016, the Alliance reached an agreement with Microsoft to launch "next-generation technologies to advance connected driving experiences around the world."

While the agreement will still see many of the back-end features of its new vehicles running on Microsoft's Azure cloud systems, mainstream consumer applications will all come from Google as part of the new deal, although consumers can download other operating systems. .