The secretive car start-up Faraday Future has big plans to reinvent cars as we know them.
The problem is, we've had no idea what that means — the company hasn’t shared many details about its cars or what sets them apart. Until now.
We recently spoke with the Richard Kim, Faraday Future’s lead designer, to try and get a better idea of what will make its cars so special.
Kim shared some of the key things that will set its cars apart from the rest.
It will be more connected than other cars
Faraday Future is putting a huge focus on connectivity inside the car.
Kim said the company aims to make a car that's more like a tablet, where the user actually interacts with the interface inside the car, as opposed to just using their smartphone to remotely control some aspects of the vehicle.
“It will be the ultimate connected experience, that’s for sure," Kim told Tech Insider. "Let’s talk about your typical dashboard or instrument panel. It’s basically a surface to put your phone, right? You never really learn the user interface of a car these days, you just pop in your phone and put it on your dashboard somewhere. We are trying to address that need.”
The car will know what you like
A highly connected car doesn’t just mean more displays; it means the car is connected to the user in a much more personal way.
“A good piece of technology is not screaming for technology attention, it is sort of seamless in the background — like my thermostat, it knows everything about how I like it in my house and I don’t have to tell it,” Kim said.
Kim said the car will get to know a driver’s preferences, like their preferred temperature, locations they visit frequently, or their driving style.
The car may also be connected to a person’s content in the cloud, which will help the car learn things like the person’s taste in music.
Every seat will be a great seat
One of the big problems the company aims to fix in modern day cars is seating. Faraday aims to make every seat in its cars equally great.
“Whether you have a one seat racecar or let’s say a ten seat commuter, we want to design cars that have no bad seat in the house,” Kim said.
“Now when you are driving and you are in the passenger seat or the back row, someone gets the short end of the stick. We are trying to create an experience where everyone gets something phenomenal.”
Kim didn’t go into detail about how exactly they plan to do this, but he did say that connectivity will play a big role in making sure every seat getting a fair shake.
Every drive will be an experience
Faraday isn’t planning to wait on autonomous cars to make driving better.
While the company is indeed working to develop self-driving vehicles, Kim said there is a lot they can do inside the car to make traveling more enjoyable.
The design of the interior, plus all the means of connectivity, will play a big role in improving long commutes and car trips.
Today, if you're driving and you get stuck in traffic, you're pretty limited as to what you can actually do in the car. But in Faraday’s cars, the driver will apparently have a lot more options.
“It doesn’t matter what car you have right now, whether it’s super duper luxury car, or your extreme, exotic sports cars: After two or three hours on the 405, you’re not in a good mood. And that is our mission, we can solve that problem today,” Kim said.
“We are trying to create an experience where you want to feel more refreshed and you have got a lot of work done and maybe you watched a movie. And you have an awesome experience on the 405.”
Earlier this year at the LA Auto Show, Kim shared more details about what may be possible in its cars.
He said he wants to see new services in cars when people are stuck in traffic, like aromatherapy, and better designed seating, like ergonomic chairs.
“The customer wants everything. They require so much. There is safety and other things we have to deal with and we are trying to check every box off that list,” Kim told Tech Insider.
“And everyone wants something different and that is why we have to create an experience that is suitable for everyone or adaptable for everyone.”
