Automotive future is almost near because of the introduction of two candy-colored autonomous vehicles- the NIO Eve and EP 9. The cars grabbed the attention of the steady crowd this weekend at the SXSW Interactive, which invited technologists from major automakers and similar brash startups to show their roadmaps for the future of mobility. The NIO Eve is a five-passenger autonomous car prototype. It was presented as a vision of mobility that changes the dreaded commute into a dreamy knitting or TV-watching escape. It is set to hit the market in 2020.
On the other hand, the EP9 is a sleek autonomous prototype. It has recently set an autonomous car speed record at the nearby circuit of the Americas, lapping the Formula One circuit at a driverless top speed of 160 mph. It is also set to be available to consumers by 2020. Padmasree Warrior, NIO’s U.S. CEO, described that today’s cars are the (internet equivalent) of the dial-up modem and that the true next generation vehicle will come fully from the digital side.
Warrior, an Indian-born engineer, seems to be well positioned to help NIO execute on a software-driving hardware approach. He has served as the chief technology officer at Cisco and has been part of the Microsoft’s board. He reports to NIO Chairman William Li, the founder of Chinese online car sales company, Bitauto, according to USA Today.
However, NIO is now threading into an increasingly crowded space. According to Sydney Morning Herald, traditional automakers are now getting into the electric and connected-car challenge by investing in their engineer staffs or partnering with tech companies like Waymo, Fiat Chrysler, Uber and Volvo.
Faraday Future and Lucid which are just start-ups have promised their own high-tech electric vehicles in the near future. Meanwhile, Tesla, who popularized the idea of a luxury electric vehicle, has high hopes to widen its market with the release of the $30,000 and up Model 3 this summer.
