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YOKOHAMA, Japan—Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. each plan to hire hundreds of software engineers as the allied auto makers focus on making cars that have the capabilities of smartphones, an executive said Tuesday.

Renault, Nissan and other auto makers are racing to offer software services for so-called connected cars that would allow users to do things like access Facebook and download information about nearby attractions.

Other applications could protect the vehicle against theft or provide emergency services, receiving regular updates like smartphone apps, said Ogi Redzic, the Renault-Nissan Alliance's executive in charge of connected vehicles.

Mr. Redzic said auto makers traditionally focused on features such as horsepower and storage space, but now, "the entire industry needs to put new technology in the vehicle in order to sell a car."

Carlos Ghosn, the head of both Renault and Nissan, has said the connected car is part of his three-point vision for the automotive future, along with self-driving technology and engines that don't burn fossil fuels.

Other car makers are trying something similar.

In April, Toyota Motor Corp. said it would team up with Microsoft Corp. to make cars more like smartphones. Toyota said its virtual assistant would know "what your blood pressure is doing during stop-and-go, and what restaurants at the next exit might be most to your liking."

Tesla Motors Inc. already offers regular software upgrades modeled on smartphone upgrades.

While most of the world's smartphones run one of two operating systems—Android from Alphabet Inc.'s Google or Apple Inc.'s iOS—the car world remains Balkanized. Even within Renault-Nissan, Renault has R-Link, Nissan has Nissan Connect and its luxury brand, Infiniti, has a system called InTouch.

These services and similar ones from other large auto makers generally offer navigation assistance and satellite radio, but the quality of service and ease of use lags behind smartphones and personal computers.

Mr. Redzic said his team was replacing these with a single platform on which to run applications, similar to Google and Android. He said that would make it easier for third-party developers to build apps for cars.

In September, Renault and Nissan said they would use Microsoft's Azure cloud-computing service as the back end for the new platform, aiming to provide an easy way to deliver regular updates to cars.

Hard-to-use software and touch screens in cars have frustrated many car owners. Consumer Reports magazine on Monday pulled its recommendation for Honda Motor Co.'s Civic compact in part over complaints about electronics. Honda said it was working to "enhance the usability" of the features.

When Mr. Redzic finishes hiring engineers for the new team, Renault and Nissan will have close to 1,000 people working on car software. The new hires will have skills more frequently found at the likes of Google or Apple in fields such as smartphone apps, artificial intelligence and analysis of patterns from large quantities of raw data, Mr. Redzic said.

As cars become more like phones, Renault and Nissan will have to become more like software companies, constantly churning out new software and updates to old software years after the car is sold, he said.

"You will have some new services that will be unique to us—for a period of time. In the tech industry it is very hard to say that you will have something unique for a very long time," Mr. Redzic said. "It's a matter of who is going to be there first and who is going to provide the most value to the customer."

Write to Sean McLain at sean.mclain@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2016 07:25 ET (11:25 GMT)

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