“Can you guys persuade Bin? It’s really worrying.”
This is what a friend of mine, who just bought the ET5T this year, said to me after watching NIO’s Innovation Technology Day on July 27th. From the successful tape-out of the Shenji NX9031 chip to the full release of the SkyOS system, and the launch of the second-generation NIO Phone, the NIO IN event was filled with concepts and terms that ordinary users might not directly understand but can sense are expensive. They don’t know where William Li is heading.
They are simply worried that such a good brand might “run out of steam” one day.
Interestingly, William Li, the ultimate decision-maker, understands his users well. In a group interview after the event, Li explained, “NIO has fully prepared mentally, investing around 3 billion RMB each quarter in R&D, more than 10 billion RMB annually, with 60-70% in fundamental research. This level of investment, combined with our efficient execution, gives us the qualification to compete in the finals.”
Regardless of whether ordinary users can feel it, Li has been consistently mentioning “the finals” since the beginning of the year. He said NIO’s goal is to build a “hundred-story building,” so the foundation cannot be laid as if it were only for five or ten stories. People will “gradually see its effects.”
This so-called “finals” is like Beijing’s “Schrödinger’s downpour” every summer; you never know which lightning strike will bring the “gunshot.” You just have to be fully prepared each time, no matter how futile it may seem in the interim.
What is the ultimate killer move? Of course, it’s the chips and the operating system. You might question whether Bin still has money, but it’s hard to doubt his vision. Even the national news said that NIO is helping to “strengthen the core” of China’s smart cars with “core system technologies and self-developed smart driving chips.”
The successful tape-out of NIO’s Shenji NX9031 chip indicates successful trial production. The official release only provided basic information, and the specific performance and effects will be felt when the chip is mass-produced in cars in the first quarter of next year. NIO stated last year that the first car to use this chip will be the ET9. The Shenji NX9031 is “the industry’s first advanced intelligent driving chip using 5nm automotive process technology,” with “over 50 billion transistors.” It is claimed that “the chip and underlying software are independently designed,” and a single chip “can achieve the performance of four industry flagship chips.”
Many are curious about which factory is manufacturing such an impressive chip. We haven’t found an answer yet; the story of Chinese companies “making chips” in recent years could fill several books.
The NIO IN event explained more about the SkyOS system. Li said that after NIO struggled in 2019 and regained some momentum in 2020, they decided to recruit a team. At that time, NIO was planning the long-term technology roadmap for the NT2.0 and NT3.0 platforms, so they made comprehensive considerations for the underlying technology.
This system, “developed over four years, involving over 23,000 person-months, and aimed at AI,” has seven key features: “high bandwidth, low latency, high computing power and heterogeneous hardware, cross-domain integration, flexible continuous evolution, high reliability, and information security.” At the core, it integrates “intelligent hardware, computing platforms, communication, and energy systems.” On a more understandable level, it can unify the management and coordination of “connected cars, vehicle control, intelligent driving, digital cockpits, and mobile applications.” You can simply understand it as a super command center that can allocate all hardware and software resources, dividing them into different functional areas like living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms to efficiently meet the needs of high-efficiency and intelligent work and life.
NIO’s Vice President of Digital Systems, Wang Qiyan, provided a very detailed introduction and comparison of this system at the event, though it was indeed quite technical. Below are some selected pieces of information.
The technical architecture of SkyOS is called “1+4+N,” where “1” refers to the “high-performance, high-reliability virtual machine monitor SkyOS-H” for multi-scenario optimization. What is a “virtual machine monitor”? You can think of it as software that virtualizes a computer into multiple virtual machines, forming a securely isolated program environment to run multiple programs or operating systems, while managing and scheduling the vehicle’s resources for efficient operation. According to NIO, “compared to industry-standard solutions, SkyOS-H reduces real-time task latency by 50%, increases multithreaded throughput by 40%, and improves virtual disk throughput by 15%.” This makes it a more efficient and faster solution, such as enabling faster OTA updates for the car and smoother connections to NIO Phone or other phones.
The “4” refers to the four operating system kernels of SkyOS. We can simply understand it as NIO optimizing four kernels for different vehicle demands and application scenarios within the same operating system, enabling them to efficiently complete different tasks.
First is the “lightweight, highly reliable, real-time SkyOS-L,” designed for low-power chips. It “supports all mainstream in-vehicle MCU chip architectures” and handles real-time information transmission on the car with high stability.
Second is the “high-security, highly reliable, real-time SkyOS-M” built on a microkernel, which mainly “runs vehicle control-related functions, including body, chassis, suspension, etc.” Its greatest advantage is “security isolation” and “rapid recovery,” ensuring that “any anomaly does not affect other parts beyond this module,” while achieving “rapid and reliable full-system self-recovery” through backups—reportedly “100 times faster than the Linux system under similar impact.”
Third is the “high-performance, real-time optimization for rich application scenarios SkyOS-R,” mainly used in intelligent driving, with “stringent end-to-end latency requirements,” controlled “within 1 millisecond.” This kernel has undergone “real-time optimization” for this purpose. It is said that compared to Linux distributions, “SkyOS-R offers 113 times better real-time performance under light load and 20 times better real-time performance under heavy load.”
Fourth is the “deeply customized SkyOS-C for native intelligence,” which is the “OS closest to the user” as it “carries most intelligent cockpit functions,” including AI experiences like the popular NOMI. Notably, this kernel not only utilizes the computing power on the vehicle but also effectively leverages “larger computing power and models in the cloud,” achieving “ultra-low latency” and seamlessly utilizing cloud resources “without the user noticing.”
Lastly, the “N” in this architecture refers to “SkyOS Middleware.” Why “N”? Because there are more than 40 types of “middleware,” like a toolbox. Wang Qiyan described it as “the key to achieving layered decoupling and cross-domain integration,” and “the foundation for supporting full lifecycle upgrades and information security.”
So, what is “layered decoupling”? It generally means dividing different functional modules in the system into different layers based on their responsibilities, where each layer focuses on specific tasks and interacts with other layers through clear interfaces, making the entire system more flexible and stable. This involves NIO’s “self-developed SOA framework,” which functions “like an advanced kitchen where vegetables, meat, seasonings, and other ingredients are individual service units. For example, if you want to cook stir-fried beef with green peppers, the green peppers and beef are combined service units; under the SOA framework, the kitchen can flexibly choose and match ingredients according to different customer requirements to prepare dishes in an orderly manner.”
After all this, Wang Qiyan’s efforts to “simplify” the hardcore technology were felt by everyone, but for the average consumer, knowing these details may not be very meaningful. When you get the car, you probably won’t tell your friends that the operating system is “1+4+N.” You might just summarize that NIO’s strategy is probably about dividing and conquering, tackling each challenge one by one.
The key to this system is “independent and controllable.”
Before NIO released SkyOS, there was already an “AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture” (AUTOSAR) internationally, established in 2003. This alliance includes leading automotive companies like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Bosch, etc., aiming to develop and establish standardized software and open electronic and electrical architectures for smart car terminals. AUTOSAR charges different levels of membership fees and standard usage fees to manufacturers using the standard, which is a significant expense for many Chinese companies and poses various constraints.
According to NIO, one of the four SkyOS cores, the lightweight SkyOS-L, is “the first real-time operating system to achieve domestic replacement of AUTOSAR and mass production, offering more powerful functions than AUTOSAR.” Whether this is true remains to be tested in reality, but this step towards independence is another symbol of the rise of China’s automotive industry.
I have a simple question: AUTOSAR is a product of cooperation among many different vehicle manufacturers and technology companies, while NIO’s SkyOS seems to be an independently developed system. How can NIO have such a great capability? Without input from other partners, can this system last as long as AUTOSAR, which has been stable for almost 20 years?
In a group interview, Li said, “We have the foundation to share the system with the entire industry, but it’s not our priority right now. We want to serve our internal users first, then give it to component partners, and finally to other vehicle partners if they are willing to use it. We are willing to share it, just like battery swapping.” Li’s business plan seems quite well thought out.
Another related issue: by developing its own system, NIO is presenting a challenge to its component suppliers, as there will now be an additional SkyOS standard alongside the AUTOSAR standard. How will suppliers ensure compatibility? Li did not directly address this question, only stating that SkyOS is highly competitive.
So, we will just have to wait and see.
Besides the chips and operating system, NIO also released a lot of “flashy” things at this NIO IN event, like the “China’s first intelligent driving world model NWM (NIO World Model),” a generative model that can “generate up to 120 seconds of video from a 3-second driving video as a prompt.” From the demo shown at the event, it looked very realistic. One of its important functions is for “closed-loop simulation testing.” For instance, if you record a traffic incident that needs to be addressed, you can give it to NWM along with relevant instructions, and it can keep trying different solutions in a “parallel space” until the most efficient solution is found.
Another addition is the “NIO Intelligent Driving Technology Architecture NADArch2.0,” which incorporates NWM and can “generate driving decisions directly from raw sensor data.” This is the main function of the “end-to-end model” that many car companies are talking about this year, making “the intelligent driving experience safer and more human-like.” The smart driving based on this new architecture will be gradually pushed to users in phases over the next few months.
After hearing all this, people were probably overwhelmed. But the most “flashy” product of the event was still a bit fresh—the second-generation NIO Phone, starting at the same price as the previous generation—6,499 RMB. Li jokingly said, “The price is very stable… luckily we didn’t sell many.” In the highly competitive domestic Android phone market, its biggest selling points are its tight integration with NIO cars and “zero system ads” and “zero commercial pre-installations.” My car-owner friend, looking at this product, also felt a bit worried for NIO, as when the “finals” arrive, a phone might not be the most effective weapon.
During the group interview, someone asked Li, why does NIO always do things that will take several years to show results, instead of creating “obvious value”? Doesn’t he feel “at a disadvantage”? Li responded that “there are no shortcuts in fundamental technology development,” but in terms of highly perceivable features and configurations, “we listen to feedback”—”you see, isn’t LeDao doing it for you, with fridges, TVs, and big sofas?”
Every time I attend Li’s group interviews, I feel like Qin Lihong is beside him trying hard not to “restrain” him. Especially after the recent live broadcast, Bin seemed even more “uninhibited.” But from this conversation, it’s clear that Li is quite clear about the balance between high-end and low-end, foundation and fine decoration. He also said something very entrepreneurial: “We are a business, and we have a responsibility to create a sustainable foundation for our shareholders and users.”
NIO will soon celebrate its tenth anniversary. I hope William Li can celebrate the next decade after the “finals.”
