Nio ET9's steer-by-wire (SBW) technology received mass production clearance today, making it the first mass-produced model in China to feature SBW technology.

Nio (NYSE: NIO) has secured mass production approval for a key selling point of its flagship sedan ET9, paving the way for the model's on-schedule delivery.

The Nio ET9's steer-by-wire (SBW) technology received mass production approval from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on December 9, making it the first mass-produced vehicle in China to feature SBW technology, the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker announced today.

Nio will participate in the development of a national standard for SBW as a core member and the only member with an actual production model with SBW technology, it said on Weibo.

The company's brief Weibo post said nothing more.

Nio unveiled the ET9 at its Nio Day 2023 event on December 23, 2023, and began accepting pre-orders at a price of RMB 800,000 ($109,920), with deliveries expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025.

The ET9 comes with a number of the latest technologies, one of which is SBW technology. Nio said at the time the technologies were the results of its significant R&D investment over the past few years.

The ET9 is the first Nio model to use SBW technology, which allows for the complete decoupling of the steering wheel and the wheels, and is a key component of the steer-by-wire chassis, responsible for lateral control of the entire vehicle.

As an important core technology for automotive intelligence, SBW is not only necessary to enable high-level autonomous driving, but will also give intelligent cockpit design greater scope of imagination.

In October 2022, Nio signed a strategic cooperation agreement with German tech giant ZF Group in Munich, Germany, to collaborate in areas including SBW products.

SBW has only emerged in recent years, and a number of countries have allowed the technology's use in production vehicles, though China had not done so previously.

In December 2021, the China Automotive Technology and Research Center's (CATARC) SBW working group announced at its first meeting that it would launch the development of a national standard for the technology, with Nio, Jiyue, and Geely leading the effort.

($1 = RMB 7.2779)

Nio, ZF sign deal to collaborate on steer-by-wire, a technology key to autonomous driving