Silicon Valley hat Privatwagen der Stufe L4 hergestellt. Wer das Geld hat, kann sie kaufen.

The steering wheel can be folded and stowed away

A truly "hands - off" level autonomous driving vehicle has arrived.

Tensor, a startup from Silicon Valley in the United States, has just launched the Robocar. The vehicle is expected to be delivered to specific markets such as the United States, Europe, and the United Arab Emirates in 2026.

Their official statement is that it is the world's first personally - owned autonomous driving vehicle.

Moreover, the original intention of this vehicle's design was to achieve autonomous driving. Although it has not been delivered yet, its significance is extremely high. After all, Tesla has only reached Level 2, Mercedes - Benz has launched a limited Level 3 autonomous driving vehicle, and the only vehicle that can reach Level 4 is Waymo's RoboTaxi, but it only achieves Level 4 under specific environments and conditions.

The Tensor Robocar might be the first autonomous driving vehicle that you can buy if you have the money.

"This is not a car as we know it. It is a personal assistant that can take you around."

Amy Luca, the Chief Marketing Officer of the Tensor brand, said that the essence of the Robocar is an AI - native machine that runs Tensor's foundation model to handle perception, planning, and reasoning. In terms of the technical route, its latest software is centered around machine learning, combined with multiple self - developed tools and the "Tensor Foundation Model" based on transformers, and it does not adopt an end - to - end solution.

To achieve Level 4 means having sufficient redundant hardware and software. So, we see the private car with the most sensors ever:

The Robocar has more than 100 sensors, including 37 cameras, 5 lidars, 11 radars, 22 microphones, 10 ultrasonic sensors, 3 IMUs, 16 collision detectors, 8 water level sensors, 4 tire pressure monitors, and even a smoke detector, etc.

All vehicles are equipped with redundant power supply and communication systems to ensure smooth operation in case of a malfunction. Sensors like cameras also have protective covers and can be automatically cleaned when the vehicle is parked.

With the support of so many sensors, the appearance of this vehicle is also very strange.

For example, there is a huge bulge on the roof with multiple sensors including lidars and cameras, and the shape is rather odd. This design probably compromises directly on the drag coefficient.

The shape of the front face is even stranger. The blacked - out front face is quite separated from the body. The running lights on both sides are oval - shaped, and the license plate is in the middle.

The doors are of a clamshell design and frameless. Judging from the official promotional video, the front doors are slightly larger, and the front - row seating space is probably also good.

Of course, the rear row is also equipped with a screen to meet the entertainment or navigation needs of rear - seat passengers.

The most interesting part is the steering wheel. The steering wheel of this vehicle can be folded and is replaced by a screen.

Tensor said that this vehicle is not only capable of autonomous driving but also has "self - awareness", which means this vehicle can also act as a personal assistant, and you can have a normal conversation with it when sitting in the car.

In terms of privacy protection, Tensor has done a thorough job. This vehicle allows the owner to completely turn off the remote assistance function. In the autonomous driving mode, the steering wheel and pedals are all stowed away, and the interior of the car is spacious and tidy. The manufacturer promises that at this time, user data is only stored in the car and will not be uploaded to the cloud.

People may not be very familiar with the company Tensor, but they are probably not unfamiliar with AutoX. The latter once operated thousands of Robotaxis in the suburbs of Shenzhen and became the world's first company to conduct fully autonomous driving tests in both China and the United States at the same time. Unfortunately, AutoX has completely withdrawn from the Chinese market.

Tensor said that the Robocar is the "evolved version" of AutoX for private cars.

So, in a sense, AutoX is the predecessor of Tensor.

AutoX was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in San Jose, the United States. It mainly focuses on developing autonomous driving technologies above Level 4 for complex urban road conditions.

This company was founded by Xiao Jianxiong, a former professor at Princeton University. Xiao Jianxiong is an expert in the fields of 3D learning, computer vision, and robotics. He built the computer vision and robotics laboratory at the university and was also the recipient of the Best Student Paper Award at ECCV in 2012. He is known as "Professor X" in the industry.

After founding AutoX, it once attracted investments from Dongfeng Motor and Alibaba and reached strategic cooperation with many domestic automakers.

In 2020, AutoX cooperated with Fiat Chrysler to launch an autonomous taxi service in China. In 2022, it opened an autonomous taxi operation center in San Francisco. As for its existing licenses, AutoX has submitted its renamed name to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Tensor is one of only six companies that have obtained the license to test fully autonomous driving vehicles on public roads in California.

However, as time has passed, after a period of rapid development in China, AutoX has now completely withdrawn from the Chinese market. Currently, it focuses on overseas market operations.

As for the production of the Robocar, Tensor will hand it over to VinFast. Yes, it is the new - force automaker in Vietnam founded by the richest man in Vietnam.

After all these twists and turns, it seems that the automotive circle is not that big.

This article is from the WeChat official account "SuperEV - Lab" (ID: SuperEV - Lab), author: Rong Xi. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.