Alibaba’s Amap Launches AI-Powered ’Street Stars’ in Escalating Rivalry with Meituan

Alibaba's navigation app Amap is rolling out an AI-driven "Street Stars" feature, marking a new front in its battle with Meituan for China's instant retail market. The service will leverage artificial intelligence to curate local business recommendations for its 170 million daily users, backed by 1 billion yuan ($140M) in launch incentives.

The MOVE intensifies competition in China's hyper-competitive on-demand services sector, where both tech giants are vying for dominance in one-hour deliveries and location-based promotions. Meituan countered immediately with plans to distribute 25 million consumption coupons through its Dianping platform.

Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu positioned Amap's upgrade as a strategic gateway for lifestyle services, aligning with broader ambitions to build a comprehensive consumption ecosystem. The AI arms race between China's tech titans continues unabated, though regulatory scrutiny looms over aggressive subsidy wars.