Faraday Future's production car appeared to malfunction during its big debut
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
The electric-car startup hosted an event to show off the car - named FF91 - and some of its features, which includes an ability to park itself.
At one point, Nick Sampson, the company's senior vice president of research, development, and engineering, was on stage with Faraday Future's main investor, LeEco chairman Jia Yueting. Sampson asked Jia to press a button on the car to prompt the "auto valet park" feature.
Nothing happened.
"OK, it seems like it's a little bit lazy tonight," Sampson said of the car, before inviting Jia to give some remarks about the company.
After Jia's remarks, the stage lights were dimmed and Sampson had another go at getting the car to move. Another long pause followed.
"As a new baby, she's often very, very timid," Sampson quipped.
Moments later, the vehicle inched slowly across the stage.
The Verge reported that Sampson commented on the apparent glitch after the event: "It's a complex situation ... We knew there were technical challenges. If you look up at the roof of this building, there's a lot of structure up there that inhibits some of the signals the car needs to be able to self-drive."
Earlier in the presentation, a video of the car apparently navigating a parking lot was shown. In the video, the car eventually finds a spot and backs itself in, ostensibly without any driver input.
Watch the moment below, starting at the 1:12:30 mark:
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