Chinese electric vehicle startup NIO is starting to catch up in the highly competitive market of the world’s largest auto industry, where most cars now offer advanced driver assist systems (ADAS).
In a significant development, NIO successfully launched its newly developed ADAS called Navigate on Pilot (NOP+) in Beijing. As per the automaker, the NOP+ is now operating on expressways and urban highways within the city’s fifth-ring road.
NIO’s quest to offer ADAS technology in China’s capital city occurred after its rival XPeng launched its City NGP in the city. XPeng aims to launch its ADAS tech in all Chinese cities as early as next year.
NOP+ ADAS scope and details
NIO stated that its NOP+ is accessible on all urban ring roads in Beijing, stretching from the second to fifth rings. It is also available on the city’s fast roads and highways.
Chinese publication CnEVPost reported that NIO started accepting initial beta testers for the NOP+ on December 27 last year and subsequently expanded its access to all NT 2.0 models in March.
NIO’s NOP+ is similar to Tesla’s infamous Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, utilizing the company’s next-gen NT 2.0 platform.
For context, all NT 2.0-based models are under the innovative NIO Adam supercomputer supported by four Nvidia DRIVE Orin system-on-chips (SoCs).
The Beta version supports numerous autonomous tasks, including the following:
- optimal lane changing
- entering and exiting ramps
- active passing, among others
Remarkably, NOP+ has already recorded more than 26.6 million miles (42.86 million kilometers) by the end of June 2023. At that time, the company is apparently recording an additional more than 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) a week. It is worth noting that the free Beta trial period only lasted 185 days, with more than 52,000 enrolled testers.
On July 1, the Chinese EV maker revealed that it had finished the beta testing phase of the NOP+, with plans to launch an official version soon after that.
The official version offers new capabilities like the 3D Birds Eye View (BEV) feature along with other visualization elements that enable more accurate interpretation of the environment, such as the following:
- road elements
- vehicle taillights
- turn signals
- dynamic models
See Also:
- XPeng plans to deploy its driver assistance software to all cities in China by 2024
- Volkswagen commences first autonomous driving pilot program in the US
- BYD: Fully autonomous driving is “basically impossible”
- Mercedes-Benz to offer SAE Level 3 system, conditional autonomous driving in the US
- MIT: Computational load for widespread autonomous driving could be a massive driver of global carbon emissions
NIO revealed plans to expand the scope of its NOP+ system by deploying battery swaps in highway service areas by the second half of 2023.
NIO surely claims remarkable features in its NOP+ system. However, only time and users would be able to confirm if these promises are real deals. Nonetheless, it is a significant milestone reflecting the company’s commitment to contributing to advancing autonomous driving technologies.
