Next EV’s Nio EP9 is no longer just the fastest electric car, it is also the fastest autonomous car.
We reported a few days ago on the autonomous Roborace test mules and how one of them crashed at a circuit in Brazil. Here’s the thing though, they weren’t going very fast. The Nio EP9 lapped Circuit of the Americas in 2:40.33 without a driver. To put that in context, the lap with a driver was 2:11 putting the autonomous tech within 30 seconds of the real deal. Impressive stuff especially since the same car (sans-autonomy) rolled away from the Nurburgring just a few months ago with an electric lap time within striking distance of the petrol-powered competition (7:05.120).
This is the thing about NextEV’s approach to electric supercars, unlike other brands in the current gold-rush of electric vehicle manufacturing they are not all talk.
They show up to a track, they break a record or two, then they go away for a while. That’s it. There’s no talk of investor drama or unpaid contractors or gigafactories or wild promises to transform the way we interface with cars. Just numbers, technology and videos to prove it. I can’t think of a better way to build interest in electric cars.
This article originally appeared on CarsGuide.
