Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer NIO Inc (NYSE:NIO) has unveiled a mobile phone to complement and even self-drive its cars.
Through the phone, users can summon their cars to drive itself to their location or perform basic tasks such as locking the vehicle.
Nio phone pic.twitter.com/pqLstETQ28
— CnEVPost (@CnEVPost) September 21, 2023
According to the company, the android - which is targeted at roughly half of NIO’s driver base that use such models - can perform up to 30 functions related to the cars.
“I believe this portion of users are very likely to use this new [device] when they are changing their phones,” chief executive William Li commented.
“I believe many of our competitors will learn from our smartphone innovations and I welcome them to do so,” he added.
Around a third of all car sales in China are now electric, with NIO’s phone marking continued attempts to use technology to gain a leg up against competitors, including BYD, Geely and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA).
Priced between US$900 and US$1,000, the android phone was unveiled on Thursday and will go on sale in China next week to everyone, regardless of whether they drive a NIO.