Author: Qian Jialing
From the “866” model to the “577” model, how good is NIO’s vehicle system among the new energy models? After the Banyan 1.2.0 update of the vehicle system in the NIO 577 model, I couldn’t wait to experience it on the NIO ES7.
If you are not familiar with the differences between NIO’s vehicle system versions, you can learn more from the following diagram:
It is worth mentioning that the “Yang” and “Rong” in the table represent two different varieties of trees in Chinese culture. As for the “Banyan” system, it is actually NIO’s self-developed vehicle system.
From Banyan 1.1.0 to Banyan 1.2.0, let’s take a look at the new features added to the NIO ES7 vehicle system:
Looking at the table, it can be seen that this optimization is quite comprehensive. I tried it and found that this upgrade can indeed be performed under lock mode.
The Guardian Mode and Remote Monitoring provide more security
One of the highlights of this upgrade is the Guardian Mode, which was introduced after compliance with relevant regulations. When this function is activated, a pop-up window will appear on the central control screen, reminding the user that the rearview mirror will remain extended and the function will automatically exit when the cruising range is lower than 40KM.
The function is similar to Tesla’s Sentry Mode and fundamentally is to provide users with more comprehensive protection for their vehicles after locking the car.
NIO has divided the severity into three levels based on the detected danger. When a severe event occurs, such as a collision or illegal intrusion, the system will remind passers-by and inform the car owner through the preset second- and third-level alert mechanism, combined with the newly added remote monitoring function (encrypted authentication by scanning the QR code on the NIO APP on the car owner’s phone in advance), the recording of the 1-minute video before and after the alarm, the reaction of the car lights and horn, and phone notifications.
When the sensor detects only someone or something approaching the vehicle too closely, the danger level is classified as level one. At this time, the car owner’s phone will not receive a warning, but a reminder will be sent to the car machine when getting in the car, following the principle of “not missing anything important and not disturbing for trivial things”.
Such monitoring logic is quite scientific, as notifying the car owner of any slight movements will easily create emotional anxiety.
Considering the need to comply with laws and regulations, NIO’s consideration of the Guardian Mode and remote monitoring function is still quite comprehensive.
To avoid privacy issues, NIO has blurred the real-time appearance of license plates and faces in remote videos and also desensitizes and encrypts the video. Before the intervention of law enforcement, even NIO cannot access the video content, which is indeed very thoughtful! Of course, in addition to the car machine, the mobile phone also supports real-time viewing, with desensitization and encryption authentication for faces and license plates.
What’s even more thoughtful is that watching the recorded videos of the Guardian Mode will not consume data traffic! Users do not need to worry about the issue of insufficient data usage after turning on this function. And, NIO stated that they will add export formats such as U-disk copying, MP4 export, and WIFI transmission in the future.
NOMI is more user-friendly after the upgrade
In terms of interacting with the car machine, the upgraded voice assistant NOMI occupies a large part of it. NOMI is indeed cute, but the number of commands it could execute was quite limited before.
This time, it is found that many commands that can be executed by voice have been added, such as the previous interior reading light can be controlled by voice to turn on and off, but the brightness cannot be adjusted by voice. Now, it is also available by calling NOMI, etc.“`
Even if you do not want to turn on the screen brightness automatic adjustment feature, or you are worried about the inaccuracy of the automatic adjustment of the screen brightness, you can also directly make a certain screen brighter or darker through voice interaction with NOMI, including the small rear screen and HUD. It is very convenient.
Making up for the shortcomings of the previous software ecosystem
However, what surprised me the most was the improvement in the software ecosystem compared to NOMI.
There are relatively few application APPs in NIO vehicle, and its previous thinking was to connect its own local applications with third-party applications, but this directly led to a significant reduction in users’ sense of security when viewing their favorite APP interfaces.
Therefore, this time, NIO added three applications, NetEase Cloud Music, Huoshan Car Entertainment and Migu Video, on the basis of the previous 13 application APPs.
It seems that NIO has been listening to users’ feedback all the time, and finally arranged NetEase Cloud Music! After all, in this era when it is easy to emo at night, NetEase Cloud Music is really essential, especially since it is a treasure trove of countless original music creators, which is irreplaceable for fans.
About Huoshan Car Entertainment, it was a bit strange before. NIO and Li Xiang couldn’t watch Douyin. You should know that many hundred-thousand-level cars can already browse Douyin and upload videos. I feel that the introduction of Huoshan Car Entertainment was relatively late this time.
“`And the introduction of Migu Video should also be due to the current popular user scenario of watching the World Cup in the car.
Conclusion
In addition, the previous version of the car system would automatically power off when the user locked the car and left. When unlocking and waiting for the central control screen to boot up, seeing the screen continuously rotating would easily make the user lose patience. This time NIO was very clever and did not try to accelerate the boot time, but chose to let the central control screen enter standby mode after the user locked the car.
Buling actually experienced it himself. After enabling this function and locking the car and leaving, the central control screen will turn off. When unlocking and getting in the car again, the central control screen will directly light up. While you are staring at the only central control screen that is on, there will be no anxiety of waiting for the central control screen to rotate, and other screens have quietly restarted successfully. What a clever move to lure the tiger out of the mountains!
Overall, this upgrade of the NIO car system version still focuses on optimizing specific functions.
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.