Nio vows autonomous electric car by 2020 in U.S.March 11, 2017 - 12:01 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A "global startup" which makes electric racing vehicles unveiled plans Friday, March 10 to sell a fully autonomous electric car in the U.S. market by 2020, AFP reports. The company called Nio, founded by Chinese entrepreneur William Li and with offices in Silicon Valley, Europe and China, unveiled a prototype of the vehicle called Eve at the South by Southwest tech conference in Austin, Texas. According to a Nio statement, the car will be "a digital companion, a robot on wheels" equipped with "an artificial intelligence engine with an intuitive human interface, providing verbal and visual connections both within the vehicle and with the outside world." It will use its glass panels as "an augmented vision for occupants and for new kinds of entertainment," according to the company statement. The new car is likely to compete in the premium segment with vehicles from Tesla and others, including another Chinese-funded startup, Faraday Future, as automakers ramp up efforts to deliver autonomous driving. "We're excited about having autonomous electric cars for U.S. consumers in 2020," said Padmasree Warrior, chief executive of U.S. division and a former executive at Cisco and Motorola. "Today we also unveiled our vision for the car of the future, focused on delivering unmatched user experience through leading edge, software defined hardware." Nio, which produces the NextEV cars for Formula E racing, has raised capital from Chinese tech firms Tencent and Lenovo, the private investment firms TPG and Sequoia Capital, and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek. According to its statement, Nio has more than 2,000 employees in various locations around the world and has an autonomous vehicle testing permit for California. Photo. AFP/Handout Related links: Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Armenia, Turkey discuss restoration of historic bridge The meeting took place on May 17 in Ashgabat on the sidelines of an international conference of ministers of culture. India wants Armenia’s proposals on use of Chabahar port India is expecting proposals from Armenia regarding the use of Chabahar port in Iran, Indian ambassador says. EU welcomes Armenia-Azerbaijan “progress” The EU has welcomed “progress” made in the framework of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border delimitation process. Belarus opposition leader slams Lukashenko for Karabakh trip Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has harshly criticized the visit of Lukashenko to Karabakh. |