Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

Faraday Future plans shuttle service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas

By

This story is part of our continuing coverage of CES 2020, including tech and gadgets from the showroom floor.

Recommended Videos

Faraday Future CEO Carsten Breitfeld plans to use the FF91, the company’s first model, as a monetizing platform. Speaking to Digital Trends, he revealed one of his ideas is a shuttle service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

“If you drive from Los Angeles to [Las Vegas], it takes more or less as much time as flying from the LAX airport. Driving is a little bit longer, but not by much. We think the business class passengers would like a fleet of those cars where you can call it to your home, sit in a first-class experience that’s much better than any business class, and pay the same price. We think it will be very attractive,” he explained on the sidelines of CES 2020.

270 miles separate Los Angeles and Las Vegas, according to Google Maps. Breitfeld claimed the electric FF91 has a range of over 360 miles, so it would be capable of linking the two cities without stopping for a charge. It would need to fill up before heading back, of course. While they’re riding, passengers could sleep, work, watch movies and television shows on the massive rear-seat entertainment system, or enjoy what Faraday Future calls a spa mode.

Faraday Future is planning to launch the FF91 with level-three autonomous technology, which corresponds to conditional automation. Breitfeld realistically predicted it will take longer than expected to reach level five, which is a fully autonomous car that doesn’t need a human behind the wheel, so the cars in the shuttle service will be driven by a chauffeur. It’s not too far-fetched to imagine a fleet of self-driving prototypes, but we’re not there yet.

Of course, all of this depends on whether Faraday Future can successfully ramp up production of the FF91. It is waiting for its final round of funding, and it expects the first examples will begin rolling out of the Hanford, California, factory by the end of 2020. There’s no word yet on when the shuttle service could start.

Follow our live blog for more CES news and announcements.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Ronan Glon
Ronan Glon
Contributor
Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…
Mercedes-Benz G580 first drive: old-school off-roader goes electric
2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 from three quarter view.

American car buyers mostly know Mercedes-Benz as a luxury brand. But for decades, the automaker has also produced the tough, rugged G-Class (also known as the Geländewagen or G-Wagen), an SUV not afraid to get its leather upholstery muddy. And now, this iconic Mercedes is going electric.

The 2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ Technology — the final name of the SUV previously known as the EQG — isn’t the first electric off-roader. The Rivian R1S and R1T and GMC Hummer EV have proven that electric powertrains and off-roading are a great combination. But the electric G-Wagen is different because it’s based on an internal-combustion model — and a very traditional one at that.

Read more
Honda believes hydrogen semi trucks will make the case for fuel cells
Honda hydrogen fuel-cell semi truck.

Honda remains committed to hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, but the market for those vehicles remains limited. So Honda is looking at other uses for fuel cells -- including commercial trucks.

To show how that could work, Honda converted a semi truck to fuel-cell power, replacing its diesel engine with three fuel-cell modules. Together, the three modules produce a combined 321 horsepower, and can propel the truck to a top speed of 70 mph. There's enough onboard hydrogen storage capacity for a 400-mile range with a full load, Honda claims.

Read more
Mercedes-Benz G580 vs Rivian R2: Is the much cheaper Rivian actually better?
2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 from three quarter view.

Mercedes-Benz has finally taken the wraps off of the new "Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ Technology." Yeah, it's a mouthful, but it's basically a new electric G-Wagon. It looks a lot like the G-Wagon you know and love, but with an electric powertrain and a battery. It's not the only electric SUV out there, however, and there are some great ones -- like the Rivian R2.

Both the Mercedes G580 and the Rivian R2 have a lot going for them, but they also approach the electric SUV slightly differently. Is one better than the other? I put the two head-to-head to find out.
Design
The approach that the two vehicles take to design is quite different -- and you might like one better than the other.

Read more