Nio CEO claims electric vehicles are the primary form of deployed embodied AI
Nio CEO William Li stated at the World Internet Conference that intelligent electric vehicles currently represent the largest volume of deployed embodied AI agents.
Speaking at the 2026 World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Nio CEO William Li identified intelligent electric vehicles (EVs) as the most significant application for artificial intelligence at scale. Li argued that because modern EVs integrate advanced computing power, sensor arrays, and decision-making algorithms, they currently qualify as the most prevalent form of embodied AI.
Industry data supports the transition toward vehicle automation. Official figures from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology indicate that as of August 2026, approximately 61 million passenger vehicles in China are equipped with driver-assistance features, with 15 million featuring advanced pilot-assist capabilities.
Nio itself reports that its proprietary driver-assistance system, which utilizes world model architecture and closed-loop reinforcement learning, is currently active in over 950,000 vehicles. The company claims these units have accumulated more than 9.1 billion kilometers of safety-monitored driving data.
Looking ahead, government regulators in China signaled plans to continue expanding the regulatory framework for autonomous driving. Future initiatives will focus on controlled pilot programs to permit broader on-road testing and commercial implementation of automated vehicle technologies.