Chinese EV maker Nio began rolling out a new software update on Thursday for its entry-level models in China.
The update brings improvements to smart safety and privacy protection, the in-car voice assistant ‘Nomi’ and parking lot navigation.
Following the first operating system, ‘Aspen’, and the second, ‘Banyan’, Nio introduced ‘Cedar’ on the ET9 flagship sedan launched at the end of last year.
The Cedar system was then expanded to more affordable models in May 2025 as part of the brand’s model refresh.
The ‘Cedar S 1.2.0’ update is being released for the refreshed versions of the ES6 and EC6 SUVs, as well as the ET5 sedan and its station wagon variant, the ET5 Touring.
It introduces smart safety features like the ‘Rear Collision Mitigation,’ which uses three layers of safety measures to reduce the likelihood of rear-end collisions and mitigate secondary injuries.
The feature can be enabled via the ‘Assisted Driving & Safety Guard’ settings, as well as the ‘General Obstacle Alert & Assistance’ function, also added in the new update.
It detects obstacles that threaten driving safety and warns the driver, applying emergency braking if necessary, sharing the switch with the ‘Automatic Emergency Braking’ feature.
The omnidirectional ‘Automatic Emergency Braking’ was upgraded with adaptive braking strength, allowing more precise responses in different emergency situations.
It improves warnings and braking when reversing near pedestrians, two-wheelers, and vehicles, helping to prevent or reduce collision damage.
Nio notes that these are safety assist features and cannot eliminate all rear-end collision risks.
The company is introducing ‘High-speed Tire Burst Safety Control,’ which adjusts vehicle posture to reduce lateral swing.
The newly introduced ‘AI Risk Alert’ uses multiple sensors and advanced data-fusion algorithms to detect and evaluate potential road hazards.
When a risk is identified, warnings are displayed on both the dashboard and the in-car AI assistant ‘Nomi’ alerts the driver to slow down.
The ‘Cedar S 1.2.0’ also improves the driver assistant’s active suggestions, such as recommending Wet Mode when the roads are slippery or when it is raining.
Nio users can now use the ‘Parking Lot Navigation’ function in a beta version — it supports over 3,000 parking lots nationwide. Drivers can enable it through the map settings.
On privacy protection, users can now automatically hide calls, navigation history and favorites when multiple passengers are detected, through an ‘Intelligent Personal Info Hiding’ option.
The update introduces an ‘Automatic Guest Mode,’ in which non-owners in the driver seat must verify the owner’s password or switch to a guest account. ‘App Lock’ requires a password verification to access locked apps.
