Faraway Future? We Ride in Faraday Future’s FF91 Prototypes

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Faraday Future threw its cards on the table in Las Vegas at the 2017 CES (the new official title for the former Consumer Electronics Show). The China-funded would-be Tesla rival has been challenged by the recent departure of key executives and questions about its financing; after missed payments stalled construction of its factory in mid-November,  Nevada’s state treasurer called Faraday Future “a Ponzi scheme” in an interview with Fortune. Nevertheless, at CES, Faraday Future took the wraps off its FF91 electric vehicle, a more practical-looking if less exciting machine than the single-seat FFZERO1 concept car it displayed at the same show a year ago. It also carted out a pair of crudely constructed FF91 prototypes.

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With unfinished interiors and lacking exterior elements such as headlights and taillights, the two black-and-white beta-prototype vehicles individually showed off two FF91 technologies: the crossover’s automated self-parking system and its dynamics. Faraday Future opened the rear-hinged rear doors to its self-parking FF91 prototype, giving us the chance to stretch out in the electric crossover’s unpolished rear quarters while a company representative sat behind the three-spoke steering wheel. Equipped with a retractable lidar system, 10 cameras, 13 radar sensors, and a dozen other sensors, the FF91 prototype proceeded to drive itself around a relatively full parking lot in search of an open parking space—the front-seat representative never once having to touch the wheel, brake, or accelerator.

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A tablet mounted in the center console tunnel relayed what the Velodyne-supplied lidar system was “seeing” in both a bird’s-eye-view format and a color-coded 3D point-of-view perspective. After slowly driving around the parking lot, the FF91 prototype eventually found an open parking spot and proceeded to back itself into the space without any drama. This feature, called Driverless Valet, will be limited to use in private parking lots and roads that have been “verified” by the company when—if—the vehicle first hits the market. Nevertheless, Faraday Future claims the FF91 also will offer Tesla Autopilot-like levels of automation that drivers can use on public roadways.

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Company representatives then shuffled us into another beta prototype—this one used for dynamic purposes. With Faraday Future engineer Matt Lubbers at the wheel, we fell into the folds of the prototype’s front passenger seat as Lubbers tossed the air-sprung prototype with four-wheel steering around a small indoor closed course. If the vehicle was struggling to hold its own, we weren’t made privy to this; the Ford Expedition-sized crossover’s all-season tires made nary a peep as Lubbers pushed the FF91 through a slalom and engaged in a handful of evasive maneuvers.

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With Lubber’s spiel on the FF91’s chassis dynamics out of the way, we were finally able to witness the crossover’s coup de grâce—its acceleration. Stopped at one end of the course, Lubbers quickly stomped the go pedal and unleashed the full force of the all-wheel-drive, three-motor electric prototype’s claimed 1050 horsepower, tossing us back in our seat with the force of an MMA fighter’s right hook. In short, it’s a lot like a Tesla launching in Ludicrous mode.

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• Faraday Future FFZERO1 Concept: A Wild, 1000-hp Electric Spaceship That Previews Production EVs (Maybe)

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• Tesla Model X: Reviews, Pricing, Specs, and More

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Faraday Future could well fold its hand before it gets to Las Vegas next year for a third CES show, but we can confirm that the FF91 is real, really able to park itself, and really quick off the line. There’s plenty of reason to doubt we’ll ever be able to experience those things from the driver’s seat of a FF91 production model, but at least we can say the money spent so far has included development of an actual car.

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