Nio Releases Major Software Update in China

Electric vehicle maker Nio launched Wed a major upgrade to its operating system (OS) in China. Named "Banyan," the 3.0.0 version of the OS brings five major upgrades to all the second-generation Nio vehicles in China.

While there are over 130 new features that come with this upgrade, Nio splits into five major areas: the in-car voice assistant "Nomi", Digital Cockpit, AI Intelligence Chassis, Nio Link Connectivity, and User Experience.

With this new upgrade to the Banyan operating system, users get support for WeChat mini-programs allowing them to access apps on the vehicle's infotainment screen.

Banyan is Nio's operating system for their vehicles from the NT 2.0 platform on which the sedans ET7 (unveiled in early 2021), and ET5 are based. Additionally, the new versions of the sport utility vehicles (SUV) ES6, ES7, ES8 together with the Coupe SUVs EC6 and EC7 are also using the second-generation platform.

Nio claims that new AI features are also improving the park assistant feature and smart playlist generation for optimum user experience.

Previously, Nio made use of its 4D Comfort Navigation system, but with this upgrade, users get the new 4D All-Domain Comfort Navigation (which will be available on all models that have the Continuous Damping Control (CDC).

The in-car voice assistant Nomi also gets major upgrades to improve its usability and functionality, according to the EV maker. New functions include NOMI Parking Assistant, NOMI Guard, NOMI Service Manager, NOMI Exploration, NOMI DJ, and NOMI Travel Memories.