The Californian startup Tensor has just unveiled an autonomous electric car bought by individuals, wanting to style Tesla at the post. With its retractable steering wheel and its impressive figures, this “Robocar” promises a lot … but everything remains to be done.
Promise for a long time, would the autonomous car finally be ready to materialize? Tesla made her his last workhorse with her FSD and a “Robotaxi” fleet operating in Austin and California.
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Other actors are however well determined to exceed Tesla on the promise to offer a real autonomous car for sale – the famous Cybercab, which we have already approached. Latest: the start-up Tensorwho wants to launch an autonomous electric car from 2026.
An impressive technical sheet
This “Robocar” takes the form of a huge 5.52 m long sedan with a fairly classic style – if not, obviously, the protuberances of the sensors all over the body.
Tensor is proud to announce that it has set up more than 100 everywhere around (and in) the car. Among them, five Lidar, 17 cameras, six radars, four microphones, but also eight immersion detectors or a smoke detector are thus deployed to enjoy a perfect vision and understanding of the environment.
Enough to take advantage of a level 4 autonomous driving, allowing drivers not to pay attention to the road. When this mode is activated, the steering wheel and the pedals retract (thanks to technology by-wiredeleting any mechanical link), and a screen slides facing the front left seat.
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The idea being to be able to ride with its tensor in manual or autonomous mode when you need it, and to make it work as Robotaxi during periods of vacation – and to generate income.
In the cabin, Tensor continues his promises. Antagonistic doors, omnipresent artificial intelligence with vocal and gesture recognition, pneumatic suspensions and even wireless recharge with Qi 2.1 technology: everything is there to guarantee a luxury experience.
Finally, the technical sheet is remarkable. The computing power reaches 8,000 tops (TERA operations per second) – a demential figure, when the Xpeng G7 boasts with its 2,200 tops. The 112 kWh battery can recharge 20 to 80 % in 10 minutes, a “Average power of 400 kW”even if no autonomy figure is currently announced.
Still a lot of shadows
And it is precisely these impressive promises which, coupled with amazing holes in communication, can leave you thinking.
If Tensor announces an arrival on the market in 2026, no specific date is communicated, without forgetting the total absence of prices-just can we register on the site to reach a « Priority list ». As for manufacturing, it is entrusted to Vinfast, Vietnamese manufacturer of electric cars.
Forbes Also specifies that Tensor is only the new Autox name, a Robotaxi service operating 1,000 vehicles in China … until it withdraws from the market in 2023. A racing delivery pilot system had also been deployed in San José, California, 2018.
Finally, there remains a crucial point: the legality of independent level 4 cars (without supervision of the driver) on the roads. Currently, only a few areas in China, the United States or Germany allow these autonomous vehicles to circulate on open road; In France, only experimental permits are issued.
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