August 4, 2025
5 min read
South China Morning Post
Alibaba’s Amap app introduces Teacher Xiaogao, an AI agent enhancing navigation and trip planning with natural language commands.
Alibaba’s Amap App Gets AI Upgrade with Qwen-Powered Agent 'Teacher Xiaogao'
Amap, the mapping and local services platform under Alibaba Group Holding, has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) agent that significantly upgrades its service capabilities. Powered by Alibaba’s proprietary AI models, the agent—named Teacher Xiaogao—enables users to navigate roads, plan trips, and receive personalized recommendations through natural language commands. For example, users can say "send me to the office" or "please find a quiet place with a lake view," and the AI will respond accordingly. This AI agent is a key tool for Alibaba to deploy its advanced AI models in real-world applications, particularly in navigation and trip planning. It reflects China’s ambition to lead in practical AI deployments, even as foundational AI models in the country still trail behind those developed in the US. Amap, which also operates as a ride-hailing platform, boasts 1 billion active users, making it one of the largest mapping services in China. Alibaba describes Teacher Xiaogao as the first "AI-native" agent specifically designed for mapping services. The agent features autonomous reasoning capabilities and leverages a diverse set of large AI models co-developed with Alibaba’s Tongyi Lab, the creator of the Qwen family of foundational AI models. This upgrade demonstrates Alibaba’s commitment to integrating cutting-edge AI technology into consumer-facing applications, enhancing user experience in everyday scenarios such as navigation and local discovery.Source: Originally published at South China Morning Post on 4 August 2025.