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The shares of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer NIO (NYSE: NIO) were listed upwards on Monday following a report that the company had hired a new executive for its autonomous driving generation unit.
As of 2:15 p. m. EDT, U. S. NIO custodian shares rose 6. 1% from Friday’s final price.
TechNode reported that NIO had hired Shaoqing Ren, a PC vision expert who co-founded Chinese autonomous driving company Momenta, to lead its autonomous driving progression efforts. NIO is an investor in Momenta, as is Daimler, Mercedes’ parent company. Benz.
Ren replaces former Tesla engineer (NASDAQ: TSLA) Jamie Carlson, who led NIO’s autonomous vehicle generation efforts from 2016 until his departure in June.
According to TechNode’s report, Ren will report to NIO CEO William Bin Li.
In the NIO second quarter earnings call last week, Li said that only about 25% of NIO buyers requested the company’s advanced driving assistance package, less than 68% of Tesla buyers opting for autopilot.
It is moderate to expect Ren to have the short-term task with the package, called NIO Pilot, to build this percentage as soon as possible.
More broadly, Ren will now make NIO’s efforts to remain competitive with Tesla, which is making forays into China, and with other rivals, adding Xpeng Motors, which will soon be public. complex drive force assistance systems.
Independent studies and NIO progression efforts gave the impression that it was slowing down amid the company’s money shortage at the time of 2019 and early 2020. Now, with nearly $1 billion in new guaranteed funding, the company can give Ren and his new team sufficient resources to drive progression.
In China’s highly competitive automotive market, this is positive news for investors who own NIO shares.