Intelligent vehicles have entered a new stage of more capable cockpits, more refined experiences, and global markets. In-car music is evolving from a simple playback function into part of a differentiated driving experience and cockpit ecosystem. To address changes in intelligent mobility and the global expansion of Chinese automakers, KANJIAN and JDO have formed a close strategic partnership. They plan to combine KANJIAN's capabilities in global music rights, content operations, AI music, and commercialization across use cases with JDO's technology for understanding users and context, making intelligent decisions, and coordinating vehicle systems. Their goal is a new generation of AI-enabled in-vehicle music products and services tailored to use cases and adaptable to global markets, making music a fuller part of the intelligent cockpit experience.
1. Complementary Strengths Across Two Industries
JDO: A China-Based AI Company Developing an Embodied AI System
JDO focuses on domain-specific large models, multimodal perception, and agent technology. With its independently developed JDO Canghai large AI model as a cognitive foundation, it is building capabilities for perception, understanding, decision-making, and coordination in automotive settings. Its related technology continues to be tested in actual vehicle products and volume production, providing a technical basis for intelligent understanding and vehicle-wide coordination in an in-car music ecosystem.
KANJIAN: A Global AI Music Ecosystem Service Provider
KANJIAN has long worked on digital infrastructure for the music industry. Its capabilities include licensed music rights management, a creator ecosystem, partnerships with digital music platforms, and services for international music platforms. It also works in compliant content operations, customized music services, and audio adaptation for global markets, while exploring how AI can be used with music rights, content, and emerging use cases.
KANJIAN currently facilitates the global circulation of more than 70 million music and audio assets, reaching over one million musicians and more than 480,000 companies and institutions worldwide. Through rights management, digital distribution, commercial licensing, AI music, and context-based operations, it is expanding music assets beyond streaming into branding, sports and health, smart hardware, and automotive applications. For in-car music, it can provide licensed content, global rights operations, context-based music services, and AI music capabilities.
2. Combining Music Industry Resources with Cockpit Technology
The partnership aims to move beyond basic content integration and bring music industry resources together with intelligent cockpit technology. It will combine KANJIAN's experience in global music assets, rights management, content operations, creator networks, AI music, and cross-border licensing with JDO's capabilities in user and context understanding, intelligent decisions, in-vehicle coordination, and volume production. The partners plan to develop customizable in-vehicle music products and services for Chinese and global markets that can be put into production at scale.
3. Four Initial Areas of Cooperation
1. Licensed Music Services for Vehicles
For different automaker brands, vehicle models, and driving situations, the partners plan to provide standardized licensed music content, rights licensing, and ongoing operations, adapted to the copyright rules and content needs of each country or region. JDO will use its understanding of user needs, driving context, and vehicle status to coordinate in-car music with vehicle functions and services. The aim is to address automakers' audio licensing requirements and reduce content uniformity across products.
Customized Music Solutions for Automakers
The partners plan to offer customized music content, creator collaborations, branded music IP, and context-based playlist operations aligned with each automaker's brand, vehicle positioning, and users. JDO will work to integrate this content naturally into different vehicle and driving situations. The goal is to help automakers build recognizable brand audio assets over time, create a differentiated cockpit experience, strengthen brand recognition, and deepen user engagement.
AI-Powered In-Vehicle Music Product Development
The two companies will draw on JDO's capabilities in context understanding, intelligent decisions, task planning, and in-vehicle coordination to jointly develop domain-specific intelligent music products for vehicles. They plan to use AI-based music understanding, context recognition, recommendations, dynamic sound adjustment, and generative music, together with vehicle status, driving conditions, and user preferences, to explore personalized, adaptive listening experiences. The goal is to move in-car music from passive playback toward proactive service. Drawing on KANJIAN's music rights, AI-ready content, and commercial licensing, they will also explore how generative music with controlled rights, clear provenance, and commercial-use permissions could be applied in intelligent cockpits.
Global In-Vehicle Music Operations and Market Expansion
To support Chinese automakers' global expansion, the partners plan to combine KANJIAN's global music channels, rights operations, and regional market capabilities with JDO's in-vehicle intelligence, vehicle-wide coordination, and production experience. They aim to offer localized music content, rights adaptation, context-based operations, and product services in different countries and regions. This would help automakers move from integrating content in a single market toward shared global product capabilities with localized regional operations.
4. Long-Term Vision
As intelligent cockpits develop into connected living spaces on the move, the partners expect in-car music to evolve across content, context, AI, personalization, and global availability. They plan to deepen their cooperation, improve intelligent music experiences across vehicle models, situations, and markets, and draw on JDO's production experience to bring new experiences into real vehicles. Their longer-term aim is an in-vehicle music ecosystem that can scale and be adapted globally, contribute to more intelligent and refined in-car audio, and support the development of intelligent mobility. They also plan industry exchanges, joint brand activities, and ecosystem development through platforms including IMX 2026.
KANJIAN and JDO will combine music content and ecosystem resources with JDO's capabilities in user and context understanding, intelligent decisions, and vehicle-wide coordination. By bringing technology and music together, they aim to keep developing intelligent in-vehicle music experiences and support Chinese intelligent vehicles as they expand globally and improve quality.