(Yicai) July 29 -- Nio has released the latest progress on the Chinese electric carmaker's self-developed smart driving chip and unveiled its whole-vehicle operating system and intelligent driving large language model.

The Nio NX9031 chip, unveiled last year, has reached the tape-out stage, Chairman and Chief Executive William Li said at the company's innovative technology event Nio in 2024, held on July 27. The chip and the underlying software were independently designed, he added.

At the event, Nio also debuted the SkyOS, which can replace the AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture, the next generation of its smartphone, the new smart OS Banyan 3, and other products and rolled out China's first world model for driving, the Nio World Model.

Developing in-house chips is considered one of Nio's measures to lower costs in the long run, Li noted, adding that the NX9031 aims to match the performance of four flagship industry chips, increasing efficiency and lowering costs. The Shanghai-based firm has reduced the price of the laser radar's main control chip on a car by hundreds of Chinese yuan, equivalent to tens of US dollars, he pointed out.

The SkyOS-L's real-time periodic signal delivery rate is 30 percent to 40 percent higher than the AUTOSAR, according to data released by the Chinese firm.

The Nio World Model can deduce 216 possible scenarios in 100 milliseconds and find the optimal decision, said Vice President Ren Shaoqing. As a generative model, it can generate a 120-second imaginary video based on a three-second driving video, Ren noted.

Nio has yet to breakeven, with its net loss reaching CNY5.2 billion (USD716.8 million) in the first quarter on research and design expenses of CNY2.9 billion. Its loss was CNY20.7 billion (USD2.9 billion) last year, spending CNY13.4 billion on R&D.

Nio will continue to spend between CNY3 billion and CNY4 billion on R&D each quarter, Li said earlier this year.

Editors: Shi Yi, Martin Kadiev