Earlier today there was a report that smartphone giant OPPO is preparing a car-making project. In fact, this does not seem to be a surprise, judging from the patents the company has obtained in the automotive field.

OPPO has more than 3,000 patents in areas related to connected cars, covering car communication, video and image processing, and in-car charging, Sina Tech reported Wednesday.

OPPO has always had a presence in cars, including expanding its flash charging ecosystem into that area, the report quoted the company as saying.

Like Xiaomi, which just announced its car build, OPPO's car-building plans are being driven by founder Tony Chen.

OPPO is researching and getting to know about building cars, but has not yet set up a project, the report said, citing people close to Chen.

In the last two weeks, Chen chatted for hours with Zhu Wei, president of CATL's passenger car division, and Chen also led a visit to China Automotive Technology & Research Center, the report said.

Andy Wu, OPPO's vice president of software engineering, was the top interviewer for the autonomous driving, algorithm position, the report said, citing sources.

Guo Yandong, the former chief scientist at Xpeng Motors who joined OPPO last year, is also involved in the preparation of the self-driving team, and related cockpit positions are already open.

Notably, Chen had said in December last year that OPPO might do cars if the auto industry doesn't do them well in the next decade, "but that doesn't seem possible yet."

Smartphone giant OPPO said to be preparing to jump on car-making bandwagon

(Source: OPPO)