CHINA: NIO Pushes Updated ADAS, Xpeng X9 and VW’s China Platform | 29 Jan 2026

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Welcome back to EV News, China.

Today, Neo pushes an updated ADAS system, the X-Pong X9, and VW's China platform.

Plus, stay tuned because later in the show, I'll tell you why one highly regarded battery expert says Europe is 20 years behind China.

Well, welcome to EV News, China, the podcast dedicated to the world's biggest EV market.

And every day, you hear the latest headlines, insights, and analysis right from the heart of China's booming EV industry.

And I decode it and tell you how fast moving developments in the East shape the global landscape.

Let's start with Neo.

They released Banyan 3.3 software today, deploying the second Neo World Model.

That's their ADAS system.

They're assisted driving and they sent it to 460,000 cars in China.

The update reaches back all the way to 2021 models that like the ET7 fully using up the power of their four Orin X chips.

Banyan 3.3.0 represents Neo's largest overhaul since first generation software launched in July 2025 for their ADAS system.

When owner feedback proved cautious and then development slowed, this release, though, tests whether the world model architecture can improve at scale.

Autolab reports urban performance now matches China's other leading systems with steadier decision making and smoother control.

The system judges gaps, executes safe lane changes and maintains tidy speed and steering during overtaking maneuvers,

while staying behind slower vehicles when upcoming turns require it to.

On tight city roads, the car reacts more prudently to upcoming two-wheelers, backing off and steering away without stopping.

Battery swap automation extends the functionality of course of Neo vehicles.

Voice commands can now navigate to stations, handle things like the entry gate, queue management, swap parking and resumption of the navigation.

Though U-turns in heavy traffic still show minor steering adjustments.

While the upgraded world model employs what they say is closed loop reinforcement learning, connecting perception, planning and control,

improving routekeeping, junction handling, traffic flow avoidance and efficiency-minded lane changes.

The founder approved the higher cloud computing spend and at least three major assisted driving updates will come this year as the system improves.

Now let's talk about X-Pung opening pre-orders for the 2026X9.

This is all electric.

It's an MPV and it claims the world's longest range for a pure electric 7-seater.

They say it's 750km on the China cycle and the battery is 5C charge rates.

Well, it's 5C.

C-rate is just a multiplier isn't it of charge and discharge but calling it a 5C battery implies it charges very quickly.

The model targets China's expanding family hauler segment where range and charging speed are some of the things that buyers look for.

The 5C battery enables very high rate fast charging, putting Chinese makers at the forefront of rapid charging technology.

Pairing the big range and the big charging battery in real world raises the performance bar for large electric vehicles and opens the question once again that

do you really need to carry around an engine for an e-rev because this is all electric and it will do it just fine and haul the whole family.

X-Pung equips the X9 with three Turing AI chips reflecting how Chinese car makers now emphasize computing power alongside battery capacity.

This processing capability powers advanced driver assistance and in-car services as local buyers expect increasingly high spec electronics in everyday family transport.

Active rear wheel steering typically reserved for premium models enhances maneuverability.

The feature gives long wheelbase 7-seaters some practical advantages in cities.

While independent test data awaits the combination of big range fast charging, loads of AI chips and some high tech stuff like rear wheel steering

should mean that another everyday people carrier enters the competitive market in China and that raises the specifications of everything.

Now, Volkswagen Group China announced its new architecture.

It's called the CEA, the China Electronic Architecture, entered its delivery phase by the end of last year, marking a big leap in localized development.

The first car to get it is going to be the ID UNIX 07.

This is a sedan, mid-sized sedan, so it's about 4.8 meters long, 2.8 meter wheelbase.

Not huge, became the first model running the new architecture at their Inui plant.

CEA emerged from that joint venture collaboration between Volkswagen and Cariad, their software business and X-Pung.

Following a $700 million investment for a 5% stake in July 2023, this new architecture reached mass production just 18 months after Conception,

the fastest deployment in Volkswagen's history.

The system represents the first Zonal Electronic Architecture, which is all the right buzzwords to be saying,

deployed at scale across battery, electric and hybrid models as well.

CEA's Zonal Control Layout, and I don't want to make light of it by the way, by saying it, all the rage in the buzzwords,

it's actually incredibly important because it allows central computing platforms to reduce the amounts of ECUs,

the little brains in the computer that previously were scattered, couldn't really talk to each other.

You can reduce the number by 30% and you enable hardware-software decoupling, and you can build vehicles virtually in a much better way as well.

Do a lot more work in the computer before you ever have to stamp a piece of metal.

Development efficiency in China improved 30%, costs for key models dropped 50%,

the architecture supports AI-driven smart dashes and cockpits, advanced drive resistance,

and of course over-the-air updates, five battery electric models using the new architecture will launch in the A and B segments this year,

including the first pairing with Volkswagen's CMP platform.

Volkswagen plans over 20 EVs for China, all powered by this architecture.

Li also is next in the news, they sold 406,000 vehicles last year, that was down 18.8% on the previous year,

the only major Chinese EV maker with negative growth, the company is now restructuring to try and reverse course.

The firm will split its R&D into three units, the base model team, software ontology, and hardware ontology.

The most significant change targets autonomous driving with the former team folding into the software team.

The previously senior vice president of auto autonomous driving now leads the hardware division,

so focusing on robotics development, anyone would think this is a Tesla news story, no longer running autonomous driving.

And the base model team integrate things like their in-house chips, and the founder and CEO Li Xiang told staff

the reshuffle addresses a new round of competition which AI focused, he positions embodied AI.

The chief executive of Tesla talks about physical AI, whereas Li also talk about embodied AI as the core skill for a car company over the next decade.

Cars should be thought of as robots, that frames their next revenue venture.

The restructure follows struggles with the pure electric Li Auto Mega, that's the large people carrier, and disappointing performance on the i8 and i6.

A tighter integration between how they make their chips, the cars, the software, and their robotics business should translate into their embodied AI ambitions.

Still not sure I fully understand what a car company is these days, but we'll see.

China is the toughest competition to Tesla, according to the chief executive Elon Musk, because it leads in artificial intelligence and robotics manufacturing.

That pairing proves decisive as EVs evolve into rolling computers, where firms controlling the code and the production also control the pricing, the standards and the market direction.

China built the advantage over two decades through supply chains, consistency of policy and domestic demand, and manufacturers treating vehicles like a data product.

Chinese firms already undercut Western rivals on cost, while accelerating cycle time, they can bring things to market very quickly, they're vertically integrated.

A lot of companies like BYD do most things themselves, feeding vast streams of driving and user data into their systems.

Local companies hold the connectivity, they hold the payments services, and all the other services through their super apps or their own clouds.

For Tesla, China represents not only a massive growth market, potentially, and also the biggest threat.

Policy reinforces this lead through support for the Chinese battery supply chains, the Chinese charging networks, and intelligent vehicle pilots, of which Tesla is not one.

Tesla is pinning their future on autonomous driving, and yet in China, there is very little chance you'll see a so-called robo-taxi from Tesla anytime soon.

Musk's assessment signals the EV contest's next phase, less about how big is your battery, more about what's your AI integration.

Chinese manufacturers demonstrate that combining next-gen software and knowing how to make things is a compelling formula for whatever a car company turns into in the future.

We'll take a break, we'll come back, we'll talk cherry and geely and more, stick around.

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Alright, welcome back to the podcast. Now, let's talk a little bit about Cherry.

I mentioned this on the EV News Daily main podcast, Britain wants more car making.

And Cherry seeks a European base. Could those two be a match made in heaven?

Well, the interests could be converging on Jaguar Land Rover's underutilized production lines.

The British government is backing talks that could see Cherry use spare capacity of Jaguar Land Rover delivering manufacturing to Great Britain.

The approach reflects a broader pattern as Chinese car makers are looking for not only investment overseas because it can drive more profit,

but also asset light assembly close to where the cars will eventually be sold.

The UK is of course outside the European Union now and all of the industrial schemes that add things like tariffs.

So for Tata owned Jaguar Land Rover, that deal could be a sweet one financially helping to make some money during its electric transition.

Sharing factories with the Chinese partner would mark a significant shift for Britain's premium brands like Jaguar and Land Rover,

sparking a debate over things like technology and branding. No binding agreement exists yet, but talks are ongoing.

Several Geely EVs have arrived in Europe for cold weather testing, running some routes from Gothenburg to Nordic proving grounds.

The convoy of EX-5s and other Geely vehicles demonstrating the Chinese commitment to proving its battery technology in harsh northern winters.

Gothenburg serves as Geely's European engineering hub through Volvo.

Testing of the galaxy branded vehicles in the EX-5 through Scandinavian white-out snow and ice,

benchmarks the Chinese hardware against Swedish engineering that's been doing this a very long time in cold climates.

Nordic trials set things like battery thermal management, cabin heating efficiency tests, charging performance,

and even the software that controls stability performance in slippery conditions.

For EVs built for China, where buyers demand all year round reliability, and China has its fair share of cold climates if they want to define them at home,

subzero validation is essential. Publicizing European testing also addresses scrutiny and tariff discussions,

running galaxy models and the EX-5 between Swedish locations aligns their products with European use cases.

Let's say the optics are very good on it. Proving the galaxy cars and the EX-5 perform equally well on Nordic ice to a Chinese city road,

strengthens its appeal and maintains its exports appeal as well.

Now, Huawei and GAC are also doing the same thing as temperatures in parts of China have plummeted below 30 degrees negative Celsius.

Huawei and GAC are using the cold snap to run winter testing on their Qixing branded wagon.

The vehicle is under wraps, but the test campaign signals where it's going. China's EV market is moving past things like

the blunt tools of heavy subsidies from central governments, from local regional government, and also blunt tools like just very low pricing.

And moving into a more nuanced era where businesses have to actually make money and survive, and also which models perform better with AI,

with self-driving, with extreme conditions, hot or cold. Low temperatures, though, really stress batteries, the power electronics, the thermal systems.

So the Qixing must cope with this northeast winter to compete with established brands. Again, it's minus 30 degrees Celsius,

and it suggests they want more than just some basic compliance testing. They're looking at range, fast charging, cabin comfort, and the rest.

The wagon style, the biggest state car, also implies they've got their eye on family use, maybe fleet use as well,

where they're expected to serve many purposes, and that could be cold weather use too.

Now, China has sold 233,000 electric heavy-duty trucks in 2025. That's a hundred and twenty-two percent increase on the previous year,

and now EV trucks are 21% of the market. This is according to the China-Yiwei Institute of Economics and EV tank.

This rate of adoption sets the global benchmark and gives Chinese suppliers a technology, and I would say scale advantage as well.

Heavy trucks generate significant emissions, making electrification essential.

The segment now ranks as the fastest growing new energy category after passenger cars.

The group leading it is XCMG, a head of SAMY Group and FAW GFANG, the top three manufacturers captured between them 43% of all sales.

They use prismatic LFP cells in 99% of commercial heavy-duty trucking installations, low cost, very durable, very safe.

Total battery capacity for the sector is 96.7 gigawatt hours.

Now, let's talk a little bit about that final story.

Europe's battery gap with China. Europe's EV sector lags China by two decades in battery technology.

That's according to Professor Ferdinand Dudenhofer from Germany's Centre for Automotive Research, very well-known figure in the industry.

Chinese automakers captured 10% of Europe in December last year, and 100,000 monthly sales for the first time.

By last year, 70% of batteries in the European area in EVs were from Chinese suppliers.

As Chinese suppliers benefit from 30% lower production costs and 50% faster development cycles compared to its counterparts, European battery makers struggle.

Things like Sweden's Northvolts spent a lot of money and faces bankruptcy.

France's ACC has paused its expansion.

Chinese battery leaders CATL, BYD and the rest now manufacture in Europe through partnerships.

CATL makes the batteries for BMWs in Germany. BYD collaborates with Stellantis on LFP batteries.

And China controls 75% of global battery production capacity.

In Europe, it costs 50% more and 80% dependency on imported critical materials, lithium, nickel and the like.

Well, the tech gap extends beyond batteries into things like autonomy and smart cockpits where Chinese firms are doing very well.

Now, the professor in Germany emphasises that European-Chinese cooperation represents essential progress,

potentially transforming Europe into a tech hub that collaborates with China rather than runs behind it.

And that's your podcast for today. Thanks for listening. See you on the next one.

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CHINA: NIO Pushes Updated ADAS, Xpeng X9 and VW’s China Platform | 29 Jan 2026

About this episode

Xpeng X9

ADAS system

Volkswagen

Nio

Orin X chips

NIO ET7

urban performance

lane changes

X-Pung 2026X9

MPV

battery charge rates

5C battery

active rear wheel steering

China Electronic Architecture

Volkswagen ID UNIX 07

Zonal Electronic Architecture

ECUs

over-the-air updates

embodied AI

Tesla

Li Auto

i8

i6

EVs

vertical integration

Chery

Jaguar Land Rover

electric transition

Geely

EX-5

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