Description
NIO is a Chinese automobile manufacturer headquartered in Shanghai, specializing in designing and developing electric vehicles. The company is also involved in the FIA Formula E Championship, the first single-seater, all-electric racing series.
Technology
NIO Pilot is the company's SAE level 2 semi autonomous system that offers ADAS features. It launched with the introduction of NIO's ES8 model. Several over the updates throughout 2018 and 2019 has enhanced NIO Pilot with features such as lane keeping, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking, highway pilot, traffic Jam pilot, auto lane change and more.
NIO Pilot sensor suite consists of a trifocal forward camera, 5 radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors and a driver monitor camera. NIO was the first automaker to launch a car model utilizing Mobileye's EyeQ4 vision chip.
In November 2019, NIO announced a partnership with Mobileye to develop a consumer car equipped with Mobileye's complete Level 4 self driving system that could be sold to consumers by 2022.
Overview
NIO was founded in November 2014 by William Li the Chairman of Bitauto and NextEV. After launch, several companies invested in NIO, including Tencent, Temasek, Baidu, Sequoia, Lenovo and TPG. Its first model, the NIO EP9 sports car, debuted the same day the brand was established.[citation needed]
In October 2016, NIO announced that it had been given an "Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit" by the California DMV and it would begin testing on public roads under the "Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program" guidelines as part of its autonomous vehicle program. According to the company, it planned to launch vehicles with level-three and level-four autonomy.
In May 2018, NIO opened its first battery swap station in the Nanshan District of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, dubbed the "Power Swap Station". Only batteries for ES8 cars would be available from this station.
In September 2018, the company filed for a US$1.8 billion initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.
In late April 2020, Nio announced ~$1B in new funding from a group of Chinese investors, which was needed due to the company's struggles to sell its vehicles. As part of the deal, Nio would transfer assets to a new subsidiary called Nio China, which will be headquartered in Hefei.
In August 2020, Nio launched Battery as a Service (BaaS) along with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (“CATL”), Hubei Science Technology Investment Group Co., Ltd. and a subsidiary of Guotai Junan International Holdings Limited. Each contributing RMB200 million into the venture for 25% equity. BaaS helps lower the purchase price of Nio electric vehicles by about 25%.
