AssetID: 54985216
Headline: Hands Off! Futuristic AI Supercar That Doesn't Even Need You To Sit In The Driver's Seat Could Make Human Drivers Extinct In Just Two Years
Caption: WORDS BYLINE: Hayley Chamberlain A California tech start-up has unveiled a futuristic self-driving car so advanced that it doesn’t even want you to touch the wheel. The Tensor Robocar, unveiled by Silicon Valley-based firm Tensor, has been built from the ground up for one purpose – to drive itself. Unlike most autonomous vehicles, which are adapted from existing models, this one has been designed entirely around artificial intelligence. Brimming with high-tech gadgetry, the Robocar boasts an astonishing 37 cameras, 5 lidars, 11 radars, 22 microphones, 10 ultrasonic sensors – and even more hidden detectors – to give it eyes and ears in every direction. The company claims it’s the world’s first personal Robocar – a private, owner-driven alternative to the current crop of robotic taxi fleets. And they believe it marks the dawn of an “AI-defined vehicle era.” ‘This isn’t a car as we know it,’ Tensor said in a press release, adding that its vertically integrated Level 4 autonomy stack means the vehicle can operate entirely without driver input under specific conditions. Inside, a sophisticated dual AI brain runs the show. One system reacts instantly like a human reflex, trained on millions of miles of expert driver data. The other – powered by a multimodal Visual Language Model – thinks things through, reasoning its way out of tricky or unusual situations such as poor visibility or chaotic traffic. The Robocar can also park itself, charge itself, clean its own sensors and even run full self-diagnostics – meaning no daily visits to a technician. Safety is at the core of the design. Every critical system – from sensors to communication links – has full redundancy, so there’s no single point of failure. It’s being built to meet the toughest global safety standards, including FMVSS and the IIHS Top Safety Pick+. But it’s not just smart – it’s personal. Tensor calls it an ‘AI agentic car’. Onboard microphones and cameras feed into a Large Language Model that chats with you, learns your preferences and adapts over time. And in an era when data privacy is a hot topic, Tensor promises all personal data stays inside the vehicle, stored locally – no cloud tracking. For extra peace of mind, there are physical covers for cameras and switches for microphones. Set to hit selected markets in the US, Europe and the UAE in late 2026, the Robocar even comes with a foldable steering wheel and sliding display – so you can choose to drive yourself or sit back and let the AI chauffeur you.
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