v.l.n.r. / Dr. Stefan Franzke - CEO Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH; Staatssekretär Michael Biel, Senatsverwaltung für Wirtschaft, Energie und Betriebe; Mark Zhou, NIOs Executive Vice President und Vorsitzender des Produktausschusses; Hui Zhang, Vice President NIO Europe; Benjamin Steinmetz, Product Experience Director Europe; Rose Hulse, CEO ScreenHits
NIO has opened a 1,500 square meter Innovation Center in Berlin (Rotherstraße 19, 10245 Berlin). In Europe’s first NIO R&D Center, five different teams will now work on software development for NIO products and technologies. These include Digital Systems, Digital Development, Digital Cockpit (NOMI EU Team), Autonomous Driving and NIO Power. Accordingly, the Berlin Innovation Center will be responsible for software development, localization as well as software testing in Europe.
Attraction for Europe’s young tech talent
The location of the Berlin Innovation Center has been specifically chosen to attract Europe’s leading talent in software development, machine learning, AI and language systems.
SOTA and FOTA updates at regular intervals in future
Since 2018, NIO has offered its users regular firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) and software-over-the-air (SOTA) updates, for both Banyan (NT 2.0) and Aspen (NT 1.0). FOTA, which few OEMs can offer, simplifies the process of updating vehicle firmware. FOTA can improve system-level functions, such as performance, vehicle control systems, as well as ride comfort and driver assistance systems. Updateable firmware ensures that at NIO, the central power control system, the safety control system, and the chassis and body control systems can always be kept up to date. Over the past five years, NIO has successfully completed more than 80 FOTA updates. This has enabled more than 450 new features and over 600 feature upgrades to be offered – free of charge to all users. In the future, NIO expects to offer SOTA updates monthly and FOTA updates once per quarter in Europe to keep all operating systems optimally maintained.
Banyan: NIO’s operating system for the latest generation (NT 2.0)
NIO’s intelligent operating system Banyan, which is used in the second-generation NIO models (NT2.0), has more than 60 FOTA-updateable ECUs in the areas of body, chassis, power supply, digital cockpit and driver assistance. The update process is completely digital and guarantees the highest standards of data security and data protection along the entire process from the cloud to the vehicle. Both a FOTA and a SOTA update require the vehicle to be parked briefly. While a FOTA update digs deep into the system and can take up to 90 minutes to complete, such as our current FOTA Banyan 135, a SOTA update requires only a few minutes.
NOMI Feedback
Users can activate the “NOMI Feedback” feature while driving and send feedback directly to the developers with a voice recording. For NIO, user feedback is crucial driver of in-house development. The playful and simple interaction between NIO users and NOMI enables all vehicles to be increasingly adapted to user needs in the shortest possible time. Users can dictate their feedback to NOMI directly in the vehicle, which is then forwarded. The location in Berlin will help to respond even better to the wishes of German and European customers.
NIO Smart Charging
Via a Firmware Over-the-Air Update (FOTA), NIO is introducing a new feature called “NIO Smart Charging” to make it easier for users to navigate dynamic European electricity tariffs. With NIO Smart Charging, NIO users can thus optimize up to 50 percent of their electricity costs per year, excluding taxes and grid fees. In doing so, the vehicle accesses the cheapest electricity tariffs in near real-time, providing users with a cost-optimized charging strategy.
Video-on-demand
NIO will soon offer video-on-demand to all users in Europe via a SOTA update. ScreenHits TV, a British streaming provider, gives NIO users free access to video content, such as live TV and popular streaming services in 59 countries and 30 different languages. www.nio.com
