LeEco Hints Faraday Future Will Show Production Model in Early 2017

LeEco held a press conference today in San Francisco to showcase a number of products from smartphones to video streaming services to smart bikes. It was also supposed to unveil its self-driving EV concept, a grand reveal that would have played out with the car driving company CEO Yueting Jia onto the stage. Unfortunately, the reveal didn’t go as planned, but we still gathered a few interesting tidbits about LeEco’s plans for autonomous cars, as well as the plans of its partner company, Faraday Future.

LeEco’s autonomous car concept is the LeSee Pro, which was set to make its U.S. unveiling. But that didn’t happen because it was delayed and damaged in transit. Another prototype was busy shooting in London for the upcoming “Transformers 5” movie.

The company describes it as a car that’s like your living room or office, complete with screens that use LeEco’s streaming and technology platform to allow drivers to access everything from music, movies, or even financial data. But during the presentation, the company revealed it’s currently focused on Level 3 or “conditional automation,” which according to SAE’s definition, expects the driver to be able to intervene if necessary. A folding steering wheel makes it clear the car isn’t fully autonomous. During the conference, the company also shared its vision for ride sharing, where drivers can return their EVs from their cell phone.

Jia Yueting let slip some possible news about his company’s partner, Faraday Future. He said FF would perhaps debut a production car at next year’s Consumer Electronics Show. How official those plans were, we couldn’t tell. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise, though, given the company debuted the FFZero1 concept there this year. Add to that the fact we’ve already seen a vehicle that’s likely a Faraday Future mule running around L.A. That vehicle didn’t look like a traditional sedan, but rather a crossover or high-riding vehicle of some sort.

Source: LeEco

The post LeEco Hints Faraday Future Will Show Production Model in Early 2017 appeared first on Motor Trend.

from Motor Trend http://ift.tt/2e28aFp