Chinese cell phone maker OPPO has applied for car-related patents including "collision avoidance alert", "vehicle control", "vehicle positioning" and "distance measurement method", indicating that it may also be entering the car sector.

OPPO may, like Huawei, develop and produce control chips for cars in the short term, promoting its own smart ecology and driverless technology in the process.

OPPO may then enter the automotive industry, if the entire automotive industry does not do well in the next decade, according to OPPO CEO Tony Chen at the Future Technology Conference at the end of 2019.

Now it is the early stage of popularizing new energy vehicles and autonomous driving technology, the head of the car manufacturers in terms of these new technologies are not determined yet. Although traditional automakers have certain advantages, the new entrants still have a chance to catch up.

OPPO has an advantage over traditional automakers in that it enjoyed popularity and a large user base. The sales of OPPO are among the top in China and has enough potential consumers to make it easier to gain recognition.

If OPPO starts building cars, it will be the latest tech giant to enter the industry.

Earlier this month, Chinese search engine giant Baidu announced that it was forming a smart car company to enter the industry as a full vehicle manufacturer. Geely Holding Group will be a strategic partner of the new company.

The newly formed company will target the passenger car market and will cover the entire industry chain of smart car design and development, manufacturing, sales, and service, the search giant said.

Baidu said it hopes to leverage Apollo's leading autonomous driving capabilities and take advantage of its eight-year-long experience in the field of automotive intelligence to reshape smart car products and become a change agent in the era of smart driving.

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