NIO (the new name for NextEV) has just announced that Eve, their prototype self driving car, will be launched in 2020. This car starts to hint at the ways that a car primarily designed as a self driving car will look. The car is focused primarily on the occupants and their entertainment. The US CEO described the vehicle as both a companion, and a mobile living area.
This shift in design focus, and the move to electric drive train, means that a different skill set is required for production. Car companies of the future will be places where machine learning, computing, electrical storage and power are more critical to success than traditional automotive skills. The US CEO, Padmasree Warrior, was previously CTO at Motorola and Cisco – and it was her tech and telecoms (and not automotive)background that meant she was selected as the right leader for NIO in the US.
