NIO Inc. ( NIO ) shares are trading higher in the premarket session on Wednesday. 

The Chinese EV maker has partnered with a Hungarian university to bolster its European presence, CnEV Post reported.

What It Means For Nio?

Nio has inked a strategic cooperation memorandum with Hungary’s Széchenyi István University, its foundation, and the Hungarian Motorsport and Green Mobility Development Agency in Budapest on May 21.

According to Zhang Hui, Vice President of Nio Europe, the signing of the memorandum is intended to drive forward the advancement of the automotive sectors. Additionally, it seeks to expedite the implementation of Nio’s energy replenishment technology and business models within Hungary.

The collaborative scientific effort will encompass various domains such as photovoltaics, energy storage, charging infrastructure, grid integration, durable batteries, and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, the report read.

The company announced that within this partnership, Nio aims to foster green collaboration between China and Hungary and between China and Europe.

In 2022, Nio established the Nio Power Europe Plant in Hungary, marking its inaugural overseas facility dedicated to manufacturing battery swap stations. 

This plant fulfills multiple roles, serving as a manufacturing hub, a research and development center, as well as a service center for Nio’s power products across Europe.

NOMI GPT – Peeking Into NIO’s Digital Cockpit:

In an exchange filing yesterday, NIO highlighted its in-car AI companion NOMI GPT, which can listen to, communicate, and interact with users to build a strong emotional connection between vehicles and users. 

“We released our NOMI GPT, a multimodal large vision model, in April 2024,” the company said.

Price Action: NIO shares are trading higher by 1.14% to $5.31 premarket at last check Wednesday.