EXCLUSIVE: NIO ES8 x Mobileye spotted in Sweden regarding expansion into the country (VIDEO)

Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com

NIO ES8 Model with NAD (NIO Autonomous Driving) capabilities was spotted in Uppsala, Sweden. The country is part of NIO’s 2022 expansion plan with the first deliveries expected to arrive by the end of this year. In September 2021, the company entered Norway being its first European Market and is currently selling only NIO ES8 model there. Although, NIO ET7 will be available there in the fourth quarter of 2022 and NIO ET5 in Spring 2023, as announced by the company on January 22.

The EV manufacturer will enter 4 new European Markets in 2022 such as Germany, Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands. During the last NIO Day, the company revealed that will be present in 25 Countries by 2025.

Sales (in Sweden) will start at the end of the year.
Lihong Qin, Nio’s co-founder, Director and President

Earlier this month, a NIO ES8 Model with NAD System was spotted on a highway in France (with a German plate). NIO announced the system in January 2021 during the unveiling of NIO ET7 Model, the first one using this technology. On January 16th, the same model was also seen in Braunschweig, 550km from Munich with a very similar plate (M DU 429E vs M DU 425 E) — check it here.

In addition, another NIO x Mobileye was spotted on January 16 in Germany. The vehicle had a German License plate from the city of Munich but was seen in Lower Saxony, Braunschweig which is approximately 550km from north of Munich. On German License Plates, the first(s) letter(s) indicates the city or district from the vehicle.

A recently enacted autonomous vehicle (AV) law permits driverless vehicles on German roads, allowing Mobileye robotaxis to begin early-rider testing on Munich streets in 2022. The fleet will thereafter move from test to commercial operations upon regulatory approval. “Germany has shown global leadership toward a future of autonomous mobility by expediting crucial AV legislation,” Gelsinger said. “Our ability to begin robotaxi operations in Munich next year would not be possible without this new law.”

The same testing-vehicles were also recently spotted in Israel amid NIO’s partnership with Intel-owned Mobileye. Mobileye is a global leader in the development of vision technology for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving.

The autonomous system developed by the company is planned to support Level 4 autonomous driving, where the vehicles can travel on set routes without intervention by a human driver based on a platform that includes sensors, advanced processors, precise mapping, and artificial intelligence.

NIO has built up the full-stack NAD capability with perception algorithms, localization, control strategy, and platform software developed in-house. NAD will gradually cover use cases of expressways, urban areas, parking, and battery swap to enable a safer and more relaxing autonomous driving experience from point A to point B.

NIO announced the collaboration with Mobileye back in 2019 aiming to “engineer and manufacture a self-driving system designed by Mobileye, building on Mobileye’s level-4 (L4) AV kit”. This self-driving system will be the first of its kind, targeting consumer autonomy, engineered for automotive qualification standards, quality, cost, and scale. — NIO stated.

At the time, Prof. Amnon Shashua, Intel. Sr. Vice President and President and CEO of Mobileye, said, “We are thrilled by the promise and potential of collaborating with NIO on electric autonomous vehicles, for both consumers and robotaxi fleets. We value the opportunity to bring greater road safety to China and other markets through our efforts and look forward to NIO’s support as Mobileye builds a transformational mobility service across the globe.”