EV Startup NIO Signs Cooperation Agreement with Robert Bosch

China’s electric vehicle (EV) startup NIO signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the German engineering and electronics company Robert Bosch GmbH on July 9. The agreement focuses on cooperations in the areas of sensor technology, automated driving, electric motor controls and intelligent transport systems.

NIO and Bosch signed the agreement in Berlin, Germany at a signing ceremony attended by both Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

NIO ES8.
NIO ES8. Image Source: NIO website.

NIO and Bosch first cooperated in the past on is the NIO ES8, specifically on key components such as driver assistance systems, control units, sensors and the intelligent iBooster. In the future, the two companies will further develop these components to equip other NIO models.

In the wake of China’s consumption upgrade and power technology transformations in the automobile industry, the country has produced a number of new EV companies that focus on the mid- to high-end markets.

According to Sina Auto, NIO has recently unveiled its new ES6 model in Nanjing, China. Different from NIO ES8 in the front-end design, the new fully electric vehicle is a 5-seat medium-sized SUV. It will debut in the fourth quarter of this year and will be officially launched in 2019.

NIO recently delivered the second batch of the mass-produced ES8 to users on June 28. This is the first time that the Model X-competitor has been delivered to ordinary consumers outside of the NIO company.