NIO IN 2026: New AI Cockpit and Driving Tech Coming November 25

The Chinese EV maker heads to Guangzhou with advances in artificial intelligence, smarter onboard systems and driver assistance ahead of the city’s auto show 

NIO will hold its NIO IN 2026 innovation and technology day on November 25 in Guangzhou, showcasing the Chinese EV maker's latest research and development progress in artificial intelligence (AI). 

NIO said in a statement on Wednesday that it will share its insights and practices in building an AI-native organization at the event, as well as launch new AI-driven smart cockpit and smart assisted driving products. 

This marks the return of the technology-focused event after a 2-year gap, as it was not held in 2025. 

The previous NIO IN event took place in Shanghai on July 27, 2024, when NIO announced the successful tape-out of its 5-nm smart driving chip Shenji NX9031 and launched the SkyOS vehicle operating system, the second-generation NIO Phone, and the NIO World Model (NWM) for smart driving. 

The choice of Guangzhou for the upcoming event comes just ahead of the 2026 Guangzhou Auto Show, which opens in the city on November 27. 

Launched in 2003, the Guangzhou auto show begins annually in November, unlike the biennial Shanghai and Beijing auto shows. This year's Guangzhou Auto Show will run from November 27 to December 6, with the first day serving as the media day when automakers typically roll out new models. 

NIO plans to launch a special edition of its battery electric SUV, the third-generation ES8, at the Guangzhou Auto Show, adding a new option for the large electric SUV that continues to support main-brand sales more than 1 year after its launch. 

NIO has significantly increased its strategic investment in AI this year. William Li, the company's founder, chairman, and CEO, said in an internal speech in January that NIO had established an AGI committee to drive the deep application of AI across various business lines — including smart driving, R&D, manufacturing, and supply chain — to enhance product competitiveness and operational efficiency. 

"Do not fear AI; embrace the change," Li urged employees. "I believe any automotive company with ambitions today must be an AI company — there's no question about it," Li said. 

In May, the committee launched the "NIO AGI Superstar Program" targeting universities globally to recruit top talent for key research areas including foundation models for the physical world, end-to-end smart assisted driving, the NOMI in-car voice assistant based on persistent memory, and the SkyOS system. 

The cutting-edge AI research and growth project is primarily aimed at current students, fresh graduates, and interns. NIO hopes to attract top global talent with experience publishing in top-tier conferences or possessing core research capabilities. 

On the underlying hardware front, NIO's chip subsidiary GeniTech Co Ltd (Shenji), which was spun off in June 2025, is also accelerating commercialization and expanding into AI scenarios beyond automobiles. 

At the 2026 World AI Conference (WAIC 2026) in July, the unit showcased a chip lineup including the NX9031X, NX9031U, and NX9031C, covering the 3 areas of smart assisted driving, embodied intelligence, and agent inference. 

Among them, the high-end NX9031X chip has been deployed across the entire model lineups of the NIO and Onvo brands, with cumulative shipments exceeding 300,000 units as of July. 

Li said at an earnings media briefing in early September that NIO is essentially not just an automaker, but also an AI and energy company, adding that the capital market has yet to fully recognize the value of its full-stack technologies, AI capabilities, and energy network.