Nio’s vice president of autonomous driving development, Ren Shaoqing, said on Saturday he has formally launched an artificial intelligence laboratory at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC).
In a post on WeChat, the executive said he is now a Chair Professor, adding that the lab will focus on medium- to long-term research into general AI and is recruiting globally for professors, researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and PhD students.
“With the support of President Chang, President Pan, and Bin [William] Li, I have officially launched the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at USTC, dedicated to medium- and long-term research in general artificial intelligence,” he wrote on WeChat.
“We are recruiting globally for professors, researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and doctoral students. I kindly ask everyone for recommendations,” he added. “At the same time, we are also recruiting 25 recommended exemption students.”
The announcement follows recent restructuring within Nio’s intelligent driving R&D division.
In December, Chinese outlet 36Kr reported that Nio established a new technical committee to improve its delivery capabilities.
The report said at the time that Ren would directly oversee the unit, including its large model department, while leaders of key areas such as driving and parking solutions and data closed-loop systems would report to him.
Ren replaced Peng Chao in leading Nio‘s large model division.
Additionally, Chen Kunsheng took over from Qin Hailong as head of the deployment architecture and solutions division. Yuan Hongyuan, head of the spatiotemporal information division, has resigned, and Zhang Hongxia, previously with Baidu, has been appointed to the role.
On his personal website, Ren confirmed on Saturday he will remain vice president at the Shanghai-based electric vehicle maker, where he continues to lead autonomous driving development.
“We are hiring professors, researchers and post-docs in Shanghai and Hefei,” he wrote, while also noting that Nio’s intelligent driving team is hiring for both its Beijing and Shanghai offices.
Ren co-founded autonomous driving startup Momenta.ai in 2016, which he said “grew into a unicorn in three years, aiming to help people live a better life with improved safety and efficiency of driving through artificial intelligence.”
He later joined Nio in August 2020.
Ren received his PhD through a joint program between USTC and Microsoft Research Asia and holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from USTC.
Nio said then the adjustments were aimed at aligning its organizational structure with a large model-based intelligent driving architecture to improve research efficiency and delivery speed. The unit serves Nio’s three brands: its main marque, Onvo, and entry-level Firefly.
