Photo: NIO
NIO is an electric vehicle manufacturer based in China, and while it’s not as popular as its American rival Tesla, its increased focus on international markets is certainly worth keeping an eye on.
In addition to investing aggressively in EVs, NIO is also bragging about something not a lot of carmakers are entirely committed to improving in the long term: the software side of its cars, with the Chinese brand revealing that it the last two years, it shipped no less than 39 major firmware iterations covering 4 different models.
According to official stats, these firmware updates (the company calls them FOTA, and this stands for Firmware Over the Air) introduced a total of 131 new features and 280 optimizations, eventually bringing no less than 411 improvements to NIO’s fleet out there.
The Chinese company claims all firmware updates are entirely based on feedback received from drivers, and by focusing on this approach and not on typical software updates (which very often come down to infotainment improvements), it can further polish critical vehicle functions.
“The updatable functions cover major function domains, including powertrain system, chassis and suspension driver assistant, body control, and infotainment,” it says.
One example is a major patch shipped in December 2019 as part of the NIO OS 2.4.0 update and supposed to introduce the Snow Mode with a 50/50 torque distribution. This update resolved the skidding NIO cars were prone to when starting up on snow or ice due to the larger torque output of the motor.
“NIO is the world’s first automaker to realize vehicle FOTA updates at scale leveraging technologies fully developed in-house,” the company says. “FOTA updates can be executed at both system level and application level. FOTA supports the updates of as many as 35 electronic control units throughout the vehicle.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean NIO’s updates are always working properly. Last year, a customer test-driving a NIO EV, got stuck in the car in traffic together with a company representative due to a software update triggered totally out of the blue. The two had to spend approximately one hour locked inside, as they weren’t even allowed to open the windows until the update was complete.
According to official stats, these firmware updates (the company calls them FOTA, and this stands for Firmware Over the Air) introduced a total of 131 new features and 280 optimizations, eventually bringing no less than 411 improvements to NIO’s fleet out there.
The Chinese company claims all firmware updates are entirely based on feedback received from drivers, and by focusing on this approach and not on typical software updates (which very often come down to infotainment improvements), it can further polish critical vehicle functions.
“The updatable functions cover major function domains, including powertrain system, chassis and suspension driver assistant, body control, and infotainment,” it says.
One example is a major patch shipped in December 2019 as part of the NIO OS 2.4.0 update and supposed to introduce the Snow Mode with a 50/50 torque distribution. This update resolved the skidding NIO cars were prone to when starting up on snow or ice due to the larger torque output of the motor.
“NIO is the world’s first automaker to realize vehicle FOTA updates at scale leveraging technologies fully developed in-house,” the company says. “FOTA updates can be executed at both system level and application level. FOTA supports the updates of as many as 35 electronic control units throughout the vehicle.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean NIO’s updates are always working properly. Last year, a customer test-driving a NIO EV, got stuck in the car in traffic together with a company representative due to a software update triggered totally out of the blue. The two had to spend approximately one hour locked inside, as they weren’t even allowed to open the windows until the update was complete.
Google News