Yahoo Sports The Faraday Future FF 91 Launch Edition Starts at $309,000
Six years after the the FF91 was unveiled—with zero customer deliveries since—Faraday Future has announced the launch edition of the 1050-hp FF 91. It's called the FF 91 2.0 Futurist Alliance, and boy it isn't cheap. Prices start at $309,000.
Plus, you'll want a subscription to "FF aiHypercar+," the company's cloud service that costs an eye-watering $14,900 per year. You can skip that to save money, and get the base FF 91 2.0 at some point, though pricing and release date information is not currently available. As of now, the only cheaper option is the FF 91 2.0 Futurist, at $249,000.
The 2.0 in the name is a reference to the substantial upgrades Faraday has implemented over the original car, shown way back in 2017. It's unusual for a car to get a second generation before its parent company launches a single product, but FF claims a variety of buzzword-based upgrades. It's based on what the company calls its "FF aiHyper 6x4 Architecture 2.0," which it claims uses AI technology to adapt to the user's driving habits. Per the company's press release:
“6x4” refers to the vertical integration and horizontal penetration of FF’s six technology platforms and four technology systems. The six technology platforms are “FF OpenApp”, “FF aiOS 2”, “FF aiHW 2.0”, “FF Mechanical”, “FF Cloud” and “FF AI”. The four technology systems are the “Magic All-In-One”, “Hyper Multi-Vectoring”, “3rd aiSpace”, and “FF aiDriving.”
The names sound flashy, but diving into the release suggests some more basic functionality. "3rd aiSpace," for instance, refers to the fact that the car has internet modems for T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon networks, allowing you to rely on the strongest signal for the "moving meeting room" and "live broadcast studio" built into the 11+ available displays. In other words, you can use whatever carrier you want to take a Zoom call.
The FF aiDriving system is the company's automated driver assistance suite, but the release is very vague about its capabilities. The company claims a "fusion" of "3 types of AI" that enable intelligent driver assistance. While there are no claims about any particular level of autonomy, it says the personalized AI system "aims to know you better than you know yourself."
That's an ambitious target. But FF has been similarly ambitious in the past, announcing in 2017 that its Tesla-fighting, 1000+ hp, 130-kWh, 378-mile-range luxury EV would launch in 2018. When we rode in the prototype back then, all of those specs were world beating. Now we have EVs that go further, make more power, and offer similarly luxurious trappings. Beating them at over twice the price will take a truly revolutionary experience, so FF's offering will have to be more substance than buzz.
We'll see soon enough. The company claims that production has already begun, and that we're entering the first phase of delivery. A "Co-creation event" for "industry expert FPO(s)" will take place on June 6, where they can convert their deposit ($5000 for the Future Alliance, $1500 for the Futurist, $500 for the base) to a full order for the Futurist Alliance. They'll have to pay in full, but at the event Faraday Future says it'll train them on the use of the vehicle. FF aiOS 2.0 isn't going to explain itself, or at least not yet.
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