Hello everyone, this is Mr.Yu from the GeekCar Intelligent Cockpit Intelligence Bureau Season 3 Episode 4.
In the last episode, we evaluated the “Hundred-thousand Level Technological First-class Cabin” AION Y, which is the main product of GAC Aion brand for young consumers. Recently, GAC Aion excitedly announced on their WeChat public account that the AION Y model had achieved a monthly sales record of 10,000 units on October 26th.
As emphasized in the previous evaluation, the AION Y’s cabin reveals an atmosphere of “spending less but not necessarily giving less”. Now it seems that this product form is gaining more and more recognition, which is gratifying.
But back to the topic. In this issue of the Intelligent Cockpit Intelligence Bureau column, we will continue to focus on presenting various experiences, details and analyses inside the intelligent cockpit. At the end of the evaluation, we will also chat with expert guests about the insights and inspirations brought to us by the cockpit.
I have always believed that chatting ten thousand times is better than reading ten thousand books. So, feel free to come and chat with us here.
In this season’s fourth issue of the Intelligent Cockpit Intelligence Bureau, we have a new friend, NIO EC6.
Speaking of NIO, most people may first think of meticulous service, rapid expansion of the power supply system, and higher brand positioning. Those who know more about it may also think of those car owners who turn their trust and love for the brand into faith.
Let’s get back to the car. This SUV coupe, called the “NIO ES6 Complete Model”, last appeared on GeekCar in late March this year when our colleague, Miss Michelin, watched the crash test at the NIO Second Experimental Center in Shanghai.
Generally speaking, SUV coupes are only a personalized and niche product, and their sales are incomparable with conventional SUVs of the same platform and size. The NIO EC6 is such a product.
Since the first appearance of the NIO ES6 on our “Wonderful Car Intelligence Bureau” column, exactly two years have passed until now. In today’s Intelligent Cockpit Intelligence Bureau, the NIO EC6 will also set a precedent. It will be the first model to be evaluated across different versions in this column.This review is mainly based on the NIO OS 3.0.0 version released by NIO EC6 on August 31, 2021, and there will be some details involving the transition from version 2.10.2 to 3.0.0.
Interaction Hardware
NIO EC6 adopts a common dual-screen design with independent instrument panel and central control screen.
The ultra-narrow digital instrument panel has a size of 9.8 inches, and the high-definition multi-touch central control screen has a size of 11.3 inches.
During the review process, the central control screen had a cool color, and the overall image effect was delicate and soft, with a high visual comfort level.
Interestingly, the EC6 has made the most commonly used Home and App menu keys in the Android system into physical keys, which are placed under the central control screen together with a circular quick adjustment knob. In actual use, the hand movement is not very large. It can even be said that this “touch + physical key” interaction method is quite enjoyable to use.
Thanks to the efficient design of the large central control screen, most shallow operations in daily use can be completed directly on the homepage without entering deeper menu levels.
The driver’s seat is equipped with W-HUD, providing simple auxiliary information such as speed and navigation for driving behavior.
Oh, how can we forget about NIO’s feature, NOMI?
The circular face of the NOMI intelligent assistant system is an AMOLED full-circle screen located at the 12 o’clock position in the entire cabin space, which allows everyone in the car to “make eye contact” with it. During voice and other human-machine interactions, NOMI will turn and interact with the cabin passengers with the help of motor drivers and damping within a range of 100° horizontally and 30° vertically.
Visual Elements
The system interface of the EC6 is mainly in cool colors, with black and white as the main display colors, and several different shades of green are used to represent labels, status, etc. In the vast majority of interfaces, the color style of each level is very refreshing and unified.
A special note is that after upgrading to NIO OS 3.0.0, the system prioritzes the update of the dark mode, which has become a visual system based on navy blue. According to NIO, the light mode is currently under development and will be released in future updates.# Why Prioritize Launching Dark Mode?
We have had in-depth discussions with experts in the HMI design field, prior to prioritizing the launch of the dark mode. We believe that in terms of the design language of NIO, interfaces under the dark mode will be more easily understood and accepted due to the “advanced and immersive sense”.
Smoothness
The two screens of NIO EC6 adopt two sets of systems respectively. The dashboard, which is responsible for the QNX system, embodies a relatively good performance in operation and response fluency due to its simple and efficient communication mechanism. On the other hand, the infotainment display, which is responsible for the Android system, is slightly inferior in terms of smoothness. Nonetheless, it remains at a reasonable level. During the several-day evaluation work of two cars, there were no instances of application freezing or crashing, indicating stable framework performance.
Map Function
The main map resource of NIO EC6 is Baidu Map. There are quick buttons at 11 o’clock direction on the infotainment display, usually corresponding to four shortcut operations of “searching,” “go home,” “go to work,” and “favorites.”
The design of these quick buttons has transitioned from the earlier vertically arranged Chinese version to a more intuitive horizontal graphic design in NIO OS 3.0. This change is more in line with NIO’s active expansion of overseas markets.
The NIO EC6 navigation system is similar to the experience of using the Baidu Map mobile app, allowing those familiar with it to quickly get started. Moreover, thanks to the large screen size and the redesigned UI of the infotainment display, the experience of navigation and settings is more concise and efficient than that of the mobile app.
The EC6 also supports LBS (Location-Based Services), which can recommend parking, charging, consumption, and travel scenarios based on the current location.Thanks to NIO’s active establishment of the power replenishment system, users can easily plan their battery swapping schedules in the navigation system. In the search results, users can easily see the detailed information of NIO’s self-operated battery swapping stations within the reachable range, including the address, distance, operational status, available battery quantity, queue length, version of the swapping station, and whether it supports Near Field Automatic Parking Swapping.
On the other hand, after upgrading to NIO OS 3.0, NIO’s relevant models have finally implemented group travel-related functions.
Yes, the previous versions of NIO OS did not have any group travel-related functions, neither supporting vehicle convoy voice nor real-time sharing of the vehicle’s location.
After the upgrade, users only need to click the “Double Car” button on the main interface at 8 o’clock position to enter the team mode.
In this mode, the member who takes the lead will be default to the “leader” status-note that this is different from the “captain” status who creates the team. The location of all online team members will be shared in real-time, and members can have voice chat through in-car devices, which support both intercom mode and chat mode.
Mr. Yu thinks that the design here is excellent. All operations of team formation are based on the NIO OS navigation main interface, where the car owners stay the longest. The navigation and vehicle control are in the same logical hierarchy. On the other hand, real-time voice intercom or similar to the commonly-used WeChat voice sending can be achieved through the physical buttons on the steering wheel or the Mic icon on the central control screen.
The NIO EC6 supports the integration of the car-side map account and the mobile-side Baidu Map account. Like most dual-end navigations, it supports bi-directional synchronization of search records, commonly-used locations, and other information between the mobile and vehicle ends, but navigation settings cannot be synced.
During the actual road testing process, the macro-level navigation route was relatively clear and comprehensive. When approaching the main or auxiliary road, roundabouts, or even some key intersections, the prompt window based on reality scenery will appear at the 10 o’clock position of the central control screen to better assist the driver in making decisions.
In some areas where GPS signals are relatively poor, the EC6 can also demonstrate stable inertial navigation capabilities, providing reliable location information and key reminders for users.
As mentioned before, NIO EC6 has become the first cross-version reviewed model in this section.
To be frank, the impression left by the pre-updated NIO OS 2.10.2 version has both advantages and disadvantages: on the one hand, the cabin experience is very comfortable, user-friendly and attentive to details; on the other hand, the ability boundary of NOMI is relatively obvious, not supporting continuous conversation, cross-domain instructions, and the vehicle control ability is relatively limited.
Just a few days after we finished the EC6 review, NIO held a small-scale face-to-face communication meeting in Shanghai to announce many details in NIO OS 3.0, which will be updated in batches starting from that day, including the improvement of NOMI’s interaction and control ability, and the expansion of cabin scenes.
In a responsible attitude and to satisfy our curiosity, we invited another upgraded EC6 back to review and see what changes are there.
Starting from the previous version, NIO’s product team’s caution in ecological application matching has left a deep impression on Mr. Yu.
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In terms of video applications, iQiyi, which is highly sought after by drama and variety show lovers;
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In terms of music applications, the copyright giant QQ Music still dominates;
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In terms of audio content, NIO OS provides a complete Himalayan FM user experience. After logging in, from the frequently listened subscription channels to the purchased paid content, all will be clearly presented. Having seen the “youth version” of Himalayan FM in the car system too many times, the usage experience in NIO OS, which is almost equal to that on the mobile phone, suddenly makes people feel a little touched.
Oh, by the way, there is also NIO’s self-operated radio brand “NIO Radio” in the media card. Here is a quote from the official introduction:
- “NIO Radio is not only an unrestricted radio station, but also a 7×24-hour interactive sound community. We not only create the ultimate listening experience with good sound quality, interesting and tasteful content, but also provide a platform for users to connect and interact with each other.”
In addition to the diverse column settings, inviting community users and Nio car owners to become guest speakers to record programs and let their voices and stories be heard by more Nio users, NIO Radio also adopts the strategy of operating different city channel branches separately.
Speaking of this, now car companies like to talk about “co-creation.” However, no one has been able to give an accurate explanation of how to co-create. But here, Nio has achieved it through operation.
After updating NIO OS 3.0, “Everyone K Song” became the latest member to join the application ecosystem. After testing, with the new wireless microphone, Nio EC6’s cabin surround sound system with 12 speakers provides a good K-song listening environment, and the ear return delay is also satisfactory—as long as you don’t care about the gaze of others, you are the most popular karaoke king in the entire parking lot.
In summary, as a top product of a new force in the car industry, which has been reviewed in the past, compared with the various features of XPeng P7 and the carefully polished Ideal One, Nio EC6’s “cautious” application ecology is simply too obvious—especially when we have to tell everyone that there was no app market in NIO OS.
Speaking of this, Mr. Yu wants to share his opinion: For some common product reviews, everyone can try to think and analyze the rationality of the product design from different perspectives.
For example, for true wireless earphones from Internet giants, some are made into simple audio peripherals, and some are made into interactive entry points; when a certain game is criticized by many players for its sense of touch design, Mr. Yu will believe that this design is actually the best choice in line with its positioning and game rhythm after analysis.
Although sometimes it may be said to lead the rhythm, it is only an explanation of motivation and logic.
Taking a different perspective, whether it is QQ Music or Himalaya FM, these platforms that are the best in their respective fields are all placed in the player cards on the NIO OS homepage. Users only need to click on the corresponding platform icon in the media card to switch to different content attributes.
In our opinion, the existence of various content platforms in NIO OS does not necessarily require clicking on the corresponding icon to enter the app interface as the only means of interaction, but rather it serves more as a content supplier. Similar to most users who frequently listen to the same online podcast channels, the most common action after opening the app is to continue playing, rather than constantly swiping to get new content under the recommendation algorithm as short video players do.
Overall, this design has two advantages: first, it reduces the complexity of frequently used interaction actions; and second, it allows for interaction within a stable system framework, which helps to ensure consistency.
If we were to describe it, NIO’s approach to building the NIO OS app ecosystem by the cabin product team is more like a simple Japanese-style bar compared to the “more is better” approach of youth-focused brands in the application ecosystem. Although the bar’s counter is filled with a variety of base liquors, it is ultimately cleaned and arranged by the bartender to provide stable service and products for customers.
Based on the new evaluation system, we tested the wake-up rate and recognition accuracy of the cabin’s intelligent voice assistant under three main listening environments: completely closed windows, high wind noise, and maximum air conditioning wind speed. We tested in both static and dynamic scenarios.
The results showed that when the vehicle is stationary, NOMI has a very high accurate response rate to voice wake-up, reaching 100% response rate in the first two listening environments. When the air conditioning wind speed is at the maximum, the voice wake-up rate of NOMI drops to 90%.
Once the vehicle is in a high-speed driving scenario, NOMI’s performance is not as satisfactory. Only when the windows are closed, NOMI can guarantee accurate wake-up with 100% accuracy rate. Similar to the stationary state, when the air conditioning wind speed is maximum, the successful wake-up rate of NOMI is 90%. When we open the window to a specific angle, the combination of high wind noise and high road noise directly reduces the wake-up success rate to 30%. This is not outstanding compared to most cabin evaluations we have tested.
When playing music and performing interactive voice commands for audio content such as broadcasts and crosstalk in the vehicle, NOMI’s response accuracy rate is around 90%, but there is a more noticeable response delay. In noisy environments where people are chatting in the car, NOMI’s response accuracy rate for voice interaction commands is around 70%, which is still acceptable.
Here we ask again, what is NOMI?
NOMI is NIO’s on-board artificial intelligence system in its vehicle models;
It is a physical interactive medium located at 12 o’clock position in NIO cabin;
It is a mascot in the eyes of NIO users that combines both cabin assistant and partner attributes…
In addition to the two EC6 Signature Editions that we reviewed, NOMI Mate 2.0 interactive hardware is pre-installed. Installing this equipment in other configurations of this model requires an additional 4,900 yuan. This is almost equivalent to the price of a flagship model from a domestic internet smartphone brand in 2021.
It is not difficult to see that most of the time, people’s discussion of NOMI will remain at the level of “value or not”. Indeed, the amount of money paid is the most direct way for people to measure the value of things, and no one can escape this.
In fact, what we see is that for NIO car owners, what NOMI can bring is far beyond what the price can measure.
Here we will not make too many speculations, and directly quote the words of NIO’s product experience leader Li Tianshu in a sharing session:
NOMI and the car are both entities.
In the early stages of development, NIO’s product team didn’t think about the most difficult natural language interaction and multi-round conversation for NOMI to achieve. Instead, from the moment the user opens the door, NOMI can perceive the car as its own part, turn its head towards the direction where the person is entering, and kindly greet the user.
It is this multi-modal perception and interaction with users that accumulates bit by bit, and tries to promote the generation and deepening of emotions such as trust and dependence.
NOMI’s appearance in narrow terms is a part of NIO’s cabin experience, which solves the awkwardness of people talking to the air in the car. Essentially, NOMI’s appearance tells users in an empathetic way that after purchasing the vehicle, they not only have a large consumer product, but also have the same experiences as NOMI: We are in this together.People often say that eyes are the windows to the soul. In the cockpit of NIO vehicles, NOMI and the passengers are face-to-face. NOMI’s emotional engine is connected to the entire vehicle’s sensors, underlying gateway, and infotainment system, allowing it to perceive users’ intentions and states more seamlessly.
Therefore, in addition to what we see of NOMI, we can imagine a few more scenarios:
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In the winter, after you have just entered the car, NOMI realizes that the temperature inside the vehicle is too low and suggests that you increase the temperature. NOMI will then breathe on its own screen and wipe away the simulated mist on the screen.
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When it is pouring rain outside, and you are driving home with a blank face while listening to the raindrops hitting the roof and windshield, NOMI inside the circular screen will hold up a little umbrella in the rain to “brave the storm” with you in its unique way…
These are not merely some imaginary thoughts but real scenarios.
With NOMI, human users have a port that can generate emotional projections. Even if it sometimes behaves poorly, subjective negative comments towards a personified system with a physical interface can be subjectively softened to some extent.
As of now, there are nearly 90 sets of NOMI emoticons available for users, showing that the NIO team works hard to create this virtual IP.
At the same time, some innovative NIO car owners have found ways to maximize NOMI’s capabilities, which is reminiscent of R2D2 from the Star Wars series and ASURADA, the learning supercar AI, named after the protagonist’s vehicle in Japan’s famous racing-themed anime series “New Century GPX” (internationally known as “Future GPX Cyber Formula”).
As an unqualified science fiction enthusiast, Mr. Yu never thought that these things would appear in his lifetime; let alone that they would take on product forms that better cater to the needs of ordinary people like you and me.
At the application ecosystem level, the NIO team has shown an incomprehensible level of caution. Almost all applications are placed within NIO’s interaction framework and logic, deeply integrated with the cockpit system, to strictly ensure the uniformity of the usage experience.
We believe that NIO EC6’s smart cockpit performs relatively well in terms of application availability and voice-related experience.
Combining NIO’s profound understanding of scenarios and excellent cockpit hardware design, overall, NIO EC6 can achieve the new energy smart cockpit experience that corresponds to its high-end positioning.
If the NIO team can consider accelerating the expansion of the application ecosystem and continue to strengthen NOMI’s “IQ” and “EQ” in subsequent development, we believe that higher praise will be received at that time.
Here, we will discuss some of the points worth discussing encountered in each evaluation.
The intention of setting this section is not to authoritatively point out product flaws or to deny the team’s work. We hope that these words can serve as a starting point for independent thinking.
Interaction level: NOMI is also “cute and silly”
As we mentioned in the voice interaction evaluation section earlier, there were differences in NOMI’s accuracy in waking up under different working conditions.
During the test of music content playback, some small mistakes were made:
- When we wanted to listen to a song by Mao Buyi, NOMI played us a song “Legend” by Faye Wong;
- When we wanted to listen to Jay Chou’s album, NOMI played us a song “Legend” by Faye Wong again;
- Although Mr. Yu personally likes different versions of “Legend”, including the English version “Fairy Tale” sung by Michael Learns To Rock. Apparently, NOMI is much more “loyal” and insisted on playing the version sung by the diva.
We couldn’t understand the logic behind this even after repeated thinking. The most likely reason is that NOMI was unable to accurately find the item due to the constraints of the content platform’s ecology, so it played the one that it understood as the closest.“`
Only a few results are quite different from what we want in today’s speech interactive AI products, whether at home or in the car. Mr. Yu has also seen some voice products that often respond to incomprehensible or executable interactive statements with quick and witty breaks.
Mr. Yu doesn’t like this kind of feedback style very much. Speaking frankly is a precious quality of adults and should not be attempted to “meng mix through” by AI in a “cyber greasy” way.
But in the cockpit of the EC6, such behavior seems a bit inconsistent.
Fortunately, such situations are relatively rare, otherwise it will inevitably raise more questions.
Even so, we still hope that NOMI can more accurately respond to our every call and truly meet our needs.
Images from the WeChat public account of “NIO NIO” on August 19, 2019, in the article “Special Interview: Talking with NOMI Once”
Coincidentally, we caught up with the release of NIO OS 3.0, so we also had the opportunity to evaluate the different experiences of two major OS versions of the same car in a short period of time.
Before upgrading to NIO OS 3.0, the entire NIO OS system was deeply customized, and all interaction frameworks remained highly consistent with the system. Deep customization also ensures a high level of detail experiences on some details, such as 3D modeling of the navigation map at major intersections, making the performance at complex intersections very clear.
But whether it is because non-deep customization cannot get on the car, or other reasons, the ecology on NIO vehicles is very limited, almost only entertainment ecology. According to the evaluation, its ecological richness level is between young brands and joint venture brands.
Another downside is the voice capabilities of the NIO EC6. From basic capabilities to advanced speech functions experience, NIO has done poorly, such as voice wake-up success rate under different working conditions, voice response delay, NIO EC6’s performance is relatively mediocre; contextual understanding, interruption at any time, commonly used commands are not activated, and other functions that can reflect AI capabilities in casual conversations are all missing, making NOMI seem a bit unintelligent.
“`So where does NIO emphasize user experience? We believe it’s in the scenes.
We truly see scene-driven design in NIO’s cars, such as the charging/battery-swapping scene. NIO has designed the experience flow exceptionally smoothly, with many details allowing for a painless process (such as setting the battery-swapping station as the destination when using navigation on the map, followed by automatic reservation for battery-swapping upon arrival, reducing waiting time).
Upgrading the scene experience was also a key focus in the update to NIO OS 3.0.
After updating to NIO OS 3.0, the entire system looks noticeably different, with HMI having undergone many changes, indeed in some aspects becoming more convenient. For example, the main interface card can be swiped, and the air conditioning fan speed and temperature can be quickly adjusted. However, in earlier versions, the interaction did not have too many problems. From the perspective of NIO’s user experience, the change in HMI did not contribute much to the overall experience.
Another key area of improvement is in voice capabilities. It can be seen that voice capabilities were a considerable weak point in the previous experience with the EC6.
We were originally looking forward to this update for this area, but overall, the improvement is limited (only supporting some simple contextual understanding, allowing for interruption at any time, and slightly improving AI capabilities, etc.), and many functionalities have yet to be completed. We do not know if it is due to version instability, but even some of the original experiences have become worse (such as worsened wake-up stability, etc.).
NIO OS 3.0 also updated two scene experiences: karaoke and tidal mode inside the cabin. These two scenes are not very innovative, but NIO has combined its own hardware and software with deep customization to make the experience of these two scenes very refined, further enhancing its strengths.
Overall, the smart cabin experience of NIO can be said to have both strengths and weaknesses. In some aspects, the experience is still inferior to other leading new car-making forces, but it does have unique insights in certain areas.
Finally, NIO’s update to NIO OS 3.0 has indeed addressed some of the problems we observed in our evaluation. We look forward to NIO’s filling the gap in its weaknesses and bringing us more surprises and inspirations in its strengths in the near future.
The smart cabin of NIO EC6 is truly magical.The intelligent cockpit evaluation has been conducted many times, each time taking several days, constantly operating, interacting, observing, recording, thinking, paying attention, and discussing with colleagues and partners. In fact, the cockpit evaluation under the new system is indeed a physically and mentally challenging job.
Surprisingly, after the evaluation ended, the fatigue in the NIO EC6 cockpit was the lowest ever, which deeply impressed Mr. Yu – we absolutely did not turn on the “Tide” function of the NIO OS 3.0 update, and lied down listening to relaxing music in the cockpit.
Maybe it’s the space, maybe it’s the interior, maybe it’s the seat design, or maybe it’s the interaction efficiency, or perhaps it’s something that can’t be described at the moment. These factors combined bring us an inexplicable sense of comfort and peace of mind when sitting in the cockpit.
Whether it’s our continuous evaluation work in the EC6 cockpit for several days, or the entire process of going to the NIO second-generation battery swap station to replace a 100-degree battery, everything doesn’t require us to worry too much. The grasp of current status, what to do next, etc., are all simple, clear, and well-arranged, which really puts people at ease.
When it comes to NIO, many people only know that its user services are very famous. But the reason that really makes it unmatched by peer companies, in our opinion, lies in NIO team’s imagination of scenarios, understanding of people, grasp of the situation, and the market and product strategies based on these.
Let’s talk about NIO car owners’ little buddy NOMI again.
As an interactive entity of car-mounted AI, if NOMI Mate doesn’t go through a period of acquaintance, it is difficult to truly understand its value. If it is simply evaluated by the “value” and “not worth”, and even the “intelligence tax” as a commodity, it seems too simple and rude.
Now looking back at these years since 2016 when consumer-grade intelligent products surged, the emphasis on intelligent experience is the easiest thing for brands and manufacturers to boast. Early consumers might buy it out of curiosity, but after several years of development, manufacturers have also found that it is useless to package and market imperfect or even lagging intelligent experiences in the face of increasingly savvy and cautious consumer groups.
Therefore, from another perspective, we can also see that NIO car owners and their families’ love and dependence on it have long answered those doubts outside with facts.
Finally, borrowing a prop from Guo Degang’s cross-talk, as the conclusion of this evaluation:> “Some people think that 500 yuan for a show ticket is quite expensive. But in fact, you can have a good laugh and enjoy yourself for the whole night by listening to cross-talk. I can’t help you with your troubles, but I can surely bring you happiness for one night. Or, can you be happy just by staring at this 500 yuan on the table? Put this 500 yuan on the table, and you and your family can have a good laugh for one night. Don’t worry, this 500 yuan cannot cure your illness.”
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.