Faraday Future Tips Sleek, Autonomous FF91 Electric Car

Although execs promise a bevy of futuristic infotainment, the FF91's chief innovations lie firmly on the driving spectrum

LAS VEGAS—Faraday Future, a would-be Tesla competitor with deep-pocketed Chinese investors, unveiled its first production vehicle Tuesday at CES, an electric self-driving supercar called the FF91.

Although executives promise it will be laden with futuristic infotainment, the car's chief innovations so far lie firmly on the driving spectrum, albeit at opposite ends. The FF91 boasts a blistering zero to 60 time of 2.39 seconds, according to in-house tests, while its automatic parking feature is so advanced that after a day of drag racing, you can leave the car at the entrance to a parking lot and it will very slowly roam the aisles looking for an available stall all by itself.

The ability to leap off the starting line is thanks to a 130kWh battery coupled to a drivetrain that delivers 1,050 peak horsepower. Faraday also says it will deliver a Tesla-killing 378 miles of range. Meanwhile, 10 cameras, 13 radar sensors, and 12 ultrasonic sensors power the self-driving tech.

Demonstrations of both features mostly went off without a hitch at a press event here at CES on Tuesday, although the prototype initially failed to respond to one parking command on stage, and Faraday didn't offer a live zero to 60 time for the demo, so all we have to rely on is the company's own factory tests.

The most revolutionary aspects of the car, however, weren't on display at all. Those include features that, to hear Senior Vice President of Engineering Nick Sampson tell it, will make the FF91 an "intelligent entity," and "more than just a car."

For instance, the infotainment system has displays that fold down from the ceiling, offering the ability to finish the TV show you were binge watching on your living room television on the way to the office. And you won't have to select the show, either: FF91 already knows a ton about your needs and preferences thanks to an online profile—and you'll be able to set up three more of them for your family, too. Each one corresponds to a different seat in the car.

"We're not stopping with automotive," Sampson said. "We don't even consider ourselves just a car company."

To find out if the company will deliver on its promises, you'll have to plunk down a $5,000 deposit. That will guarantee you a slot once deliveries commence in 2018, but Faraday didn't reveal the final MSRP.

Faraday has been hyping its product all year, including multiple teaser videos, like a 15-second YouTube clip that showed an SUV heavily disguised in black shrouds racing around a desert track.

Since teasing CES audiences last year with an undrivable mockup, Faraday has had several missteps on its journey to becoming a viable alternative to Tesla. One of its main cheerleaders and investors is Jia Yueting, the exuberant CEO of LeEco, a Chinese company that arrived on the American tech scene with its own splashy event in October. LeEco makes TVs, smartphones, electric bicycles, and even a car of its own, which wasn't present at the October event because one of two existing prototypes was damaged as shippers were preparing it for transit.

Even though LeEco and Faraday Future are separate companies, the links between them are more than just financial. Sampson told The Verge in December that LeEco and Faraday Future are "partners, we each help each other." There are reports that LeEco is siphoning off talent from Faraday for its own car project, and that the startup is so cash-strapped that it couldn't pay the bills on its Nevada factory.

"Despite all the naysayers, the skeptics, we will persist," Sampson said on Tuesday.

Source: Faraday Future Tips Sleek, Autonomous FF91 Electric Car