Author: Turbocharged Fatty

What are the popular trends in smart cars today? No matter what you mention, “software-defined cars” is certainly one of them.

Nowadays, as long as smart cars have strong enough hardware and architecture, users can achieve any desired functionality and experience through software updates.

Yesterday, NIO held a user communication meeting for the intelligent system updates of its full range of car models. So, what was updated this time? What are the new features? And what kind of experience improvements have been brought? Let’s find out.

NIO Planted “Three Trees”

The Chinese translation of Banyan is a banyan tree, and NIO calls it “Banyan.” So, what is this “Banyan”?

NIO OS is not just a vehicle operating system. It covers in-vehicle smart hardware, vehicle computing platforms, operating systems, intelligent algorithms, and intelligent applications, among others.

For the purpose of adapting to multi-platform projects and managing across multiple regions, NIO has divided NIO OS into three branches: Aspen “Poplar,” Alder “Alder,” and Banyan “Banyan.” The three trees can be understood as representing three versions of NIO OS.

• Aspen “Poplar” is adapted to three models of the NT 1.0 platform before 2022, including ES8, ES6, and EC6;

• Alder “Alder” is adapted to the 2022 ES8, ES6, and EC6, and owners of Aspen “Poplar” can also upgrade to Alder “Alder” by replacing the hardware for CNY 9,600 to CNY 12,600;

• Banyan “Banyan” is adapted to the current NT 2.0 platform models, including ET7, ES7, ET5, and future new models that adopt the NT2 platform.

Through this update, Aspen “Poplar” was upgraded to version 3.3.0, Alder “Alder” was upgraded to 1.1.0, and Banyan “Banyan” was upgraded to 1.2.0.“`markdown

The highlight of this release is Banyan 1.2.0, mainly because all models that correspond are from the NT 2.0 platform, and it is also the version with the most significant updates and changes.

This upgrade of Banyan 1.2.0 mainly covers several aspects, including cabin experience, driving experience, worry-free mileage, and advanced driving assistance. The updates that I am most concerned about include Guardian Mode and Tuning 2.0.

Don’t mess with me, I’m watching you

On Banyan 1.2.0 and Alder 1.1.0, NIO officially installed the “Beta Guardian Mode,” a function similar to Tesla’s “Sentry Mode.”

In the parking scenario, Guardian Mode can call the four 180-degree ultrawide-angle fish-eye 3 million-pixel cameras on the front, rear, left, and right of the car, and a 1 million-pixel camera inside the cabin to achieve a no-blind-spot coverage of the inside and outside of the car.

It is worth mentioning that if the user chooses to turn on the Guardian Mode automatically after locking the car, the rearview mirrors will not fold automatically in the locked state so that the fish-eye camera on the rearview mirror can capture the situation in the front of the car. If automatic folding of the rearview mirrors is required, the user needs to manually control the folding of the rearview mirrors before locking the car.

“`Apart from cameras, the in-car gyroscope and door sensors can detect abnormal vibrations and unauthorized intrusion while the vehicle is parked. The Guard Mode can send the detected alarm information to users through the NIO App and text messages.

To avoid bothering users with false alarms, NIO’s Guard Mode sets up three levels of alarm scenes and multiple levels of warnings to ensure that important events are not missed and minor incidents do not cause disturbance:

• Level 1 alarm: The vehicle enters guard mode when pedestrians, cars, and non-motorized vehicles approach.

• Level 2 alarm: When the vehicle is parked, if the gyroscope detects abnormal vibrations, the Guard Mode will notify the user.

• Level 3 alarm: If the doors are unlocked abnormally, the Guard Mode will also notify the user.

For the Guard Mode, the most important things are whether it can be prepared at any time, whether the function can be enabled timely, and whether video playback is convenient.

When users receive notifications, NIO’s Guard Mode allows them to view live videos from four different views outside the car in real-time through the mobile App.

In addition, users can also view videos from the last recording cycle in the car’s photo album. The risk alert type will also be indicated on the video cover and playback progress bar.

In accordance with the latest regulatory requirements, pedestrians and license plates will be blurred by the algorithm during remote real-time viewing. However, the complete unblurred videos will be stored locally in the car’s Guard Mode.

Guard Mode and Tuning 2.0

Many car owners are more concerned about energy consumption when it comes to Guard Mode. After all, when the car is locked, Guard Mode is in standby mode, constantly monitoring the surroundings and sending alarm notifications in a timely manner when needed.

In response to this issue, NIO stated at a communication meeting that although the duration of Guard Mode, the number of alarms, and the parking environment have different effects on energy consumption, based on internal experience tests, the comprehensive energy consumption for 10 hours is around 12km-18km.

The energy consumption performance of about 1.5km per hour, which translates to a loss of battery life, is acceptable for most users who want Guard Mode to protect their vehicles. After communicating with several Tesla owners, they agreed that the energy consumption performance of NIO Guard Mode is basically the same as that of Tesla Sentry Mode.

The NIO ET7 features a 23-speaker, 1000W audio system that supports 7.1.4 Dolby panoramic sound. The new Banyan 1.2.0 update has released a new tuning style for the ET7 model in terms of cockpit audio-visual experience.

When we experienced the NIO ET7’s audio system before, its performance was not as good as we expected in terms of depth, hierarchy, or high-frequency response.

The new tuning style, called “ET7 Tuning 2.0,” has been developed for the ET7 model. In addition to EQ tuning, NIO has also conducted in-depth tuning at two levels: power amplifier and algorithm.

NIO stated that:

The Tuning 2.0 style has made bass sound more powerful with deeper and richer layers. The mids have retained the clarity of human voice while adding more smoothness, making the mids warmer and more emotionally charged. The highs have added more detail, making the overall sound more brilliant and pleasant, creating a sense of airiness throughout the cabin.

In this era of intelligent cars, a 10 million watt sound system is no longer new. However, since the hardware has such quality, the experience needs to be better, otherwise it is easy to be labeled as “excessive”. I am also interested in experiencing this new Tuning 2.0 style, to see if it provides a better audio-visual experience than the previous version.

However, the ET7, ES7, and ET5 are equipped with the same sound system, but the new Tuning 2.0 style was released first on the ET7, while users of ES7 and ET5 still need to wait.

Therefore, we can see the “inconsistency” in the updates of the same platform models from NIO. There may be differences in the research and development progress of different models, or the progress of OTA and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology may be delayed. However, the different functional updates in the same version update still have a certain impact on users’ psychological feelings.

In addition to the Tuning 2.0 style, NIO Immersive Sound also cooperates with QQ Music and Kuwo Music to launch the Dolby panoramic sound area and the vinyl area. In response to users’ demands, Netease Cloud Music and Huoshan Vehicle Entertainment have also officially launched on NIO’s in-car system.The World Cup is hotly contested now, and the MiGu Video that supports live broadcast of the World Cup will be available on Banyan 1.2.0. As a result, a new member has joined the camp of “watching the World Cup in the car.”

More details

After introducing the two major updates that I care the most about, the Guardian Mode and Tuning 2.0, Banyan 1.2.0 has also optimized many details for various driving scenarios.

For example, after locking the car, the car machine will always be in standby mode with the screen off, and it will “light up immediately when the door is opened” when the user gets in, improving the user’s efficiency.

During the standby period, in order to avoid system cache causing the car machine system to lag, the car machine system will automatically restart every once in a while to clear the cache. Of course, this function will also increase power consumption, but the power consumption loss is minimal.

I think this optimization is good because we often encounter situations when experiencing certain car models, where we have to wait for a long time from getting on the car to the car machine’s response. Even if the screen is already lit up, some car machines may still be unable to execute your interactive operations at this time, and you still have to wait for its response.

In addition, the following updates have also been made on Banyan 1.2.0:

• The NOMI voice adds support for the entire process interaction of swapping batteries
• The AR glasses have a new function to cast the mobile phone DLNA screen in the car
• The English version of the car machine interface
• The FOTA experience upgrade supports the download function after the car is locked
• The suspension comfort at low speeds has been optimized (ET7, ES7)
• The low-temperature charging preheating function has been added
• The ET7 NBS vehicle close-range activation has been added…“`
  

It can be seen that many of the updates are optimizing the details of the experience, and there are not many truly new functions launched.

Including the Flag “Q3 release of NOP + enhanced navigation assistance” previously set by NIO, it is still delayed this time.

However, NIO has set a new flag this time: “The official version of NOP + enhanced navigation assistance will be widely available in Q1 next year”, but it is unknown whether NOP + enhanced navigation assistance will be available as scheduled this time.

But now we can get an information: NOP + enhanced navigation assistance will start the “navigation convoy” experience this month.

As for the cost of NOP + enhanced navigation assistance, it has not been revealed this time. However, if it is included in the NAD subscription price of 680 yuan/month, the cost-effectiveness is not high when NAD only has the high-speed NOP + function.

Finally

Software updates are a process of “finding deficiencies and making up for them”. “Deficiency” refers to the shortcomings in the experience of functions, and “lack” refers to the incompleteness of function applications.

The full series update this time, except for Banyan, Alder adds guard mode, remote viewing of external conditions, Volcano car entertainment, black vinyl area, HUD three navigation modes and other functions, Aspen adds Volcano car entertainment, black vinyl area, EQ balance and other functions, and optimizes the NIO Pilot experience in multiple ways.

Although NIO continues to provide continuous version updates for models equipped with Aspen “Baiyang” system, it is obviously impossible to provide hardware support for functions such as Guard Mode without the 8155 chip. However, “Baiyang” without the 8155 chip can only be expanded and optimized in terms of application ecology and functional experience.

Through the version updates of the three major systems, we can see that NIO continuously conducts research and development and adaptation for new functions based on user needs and feedback, and optimizes and polishes the details of the user experience.

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.