Faraday Future plans to begin testing prototype self-driving electric vehicles on California roads this year after winning approval from the state, an industry source said.

 

The Chinese-backed, Los Angeles-based startup plans to begin building and selling EVs next year in the United States, but has not disclosed details of its self-driving program.

 

A spokesperson from the California Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday confirmed that Faraday had been approved to test self-driving vehicles on public roads on June 17. 

 

Faraday is one of several Chinese-funded startups hoping to challenge Tesla Motors Inc. in the market for premium electric vehicles. One of Faraday's big investors is Jia Yueting, a billionaire entrepreneur and founder of Beijing-based Le Holdings Co., or LeEco. 

 

At the Beijing auto show in April, Jia introduced the LeSEE electric self-driving concept car. He hopes to produce a version of the LeSEE at a plant being built near Las Vegas by Faraday. Those cars would be sold in the United States and China. 

 

Jia also wants to produce EVs in China, most likely through a partnership with BAIC Motors. 

 

Like Tesla, Faraday hopes to add self-driving capability to its vehicles, but has not provided a timetable. Faraday has been testing prototype vehicles for the past year at private facilities, according to the source.

 

Jan Becker, senior director of automated driving at Faraday's San Jose technical center, said in an early June interview with Reuters that the company's EVs would have "state of the art driver assistance systems." Such systems provide the foundation for autonomous capability.

 

Becker declined to give specifics on the company's plans to add self-driving capability, but said such systems, when introduced, would offer automatic over-the-air software updates similar to those provided by Tesla.