Silicon Valley startup Tensor unveils a personal ‘RoboCar'
Dive Brief:
Tensor, a Silicon Valley-based autonomous driving startup, has unveiled a personal electric robotaxi called the 'Tensor RoboCar' that it aims to start delivering to customers in the second half of 2026, the company announced in an Aug. 13 press release.
The vehicle was built from the ground up for SAE Level-4 autonomy in partnership with leading Tier 1 suppliers and electric vehicle maker VinFast.
VinFast and Tensor plan to scale production at the automaker's assembly plant in Vietnam, which includes stamping, welding, painting and final assembly of the vehicle. The RoboCar will be available in select global markets in the U.S., Europe and the UAE, per the release.
Dive Insight:
While ride-share operators Waymo, Uber and EV maker Tesla are racing to deploy fleets of commercial robotaxis, Tensor becomes one of the first companies with plans to sell one directly to consumers for use as their personal autonomous vehicle.
'With Tensor, we're introducing the world's first personal RoboCar, ushering in the era of AI defined vehicles,' said Tensor Chief Marketing Officer Amy Luca, in the release. 'This isn't a car as we know it.'
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The Tensor RoboCar is equipped with over 100 sensors to support Level 4 autonomous driving without human intervention. But the vehicle can still be driven as needed. The vehicle's steering wheel folds away and its pedals retract when not in use, which Tensor says is the world's first such feature. In areas where Level 4 autonomy is not supported, a driver can take the wheel or switch to 'assisted driving' mode for a smooth handoff.
The RoboCar's comprehensive sensor suite includes 37 cameras, five lidars, 11 radars, 22 microphones, 10 ultrasonic sensors, 16 collision detectors, eight water-level detectors, four tire-pressure sensors, a smoke detector, triple-channel 5G network connectivity and other tech. Tensor said its RoboCar sets a benchmark in automotive sensing with the 'world's most vertically integrated Level 4 autonomy stack.' The system is powered by an onboard Nvidia processor.
To further ensure safe driverless operation, the vehicle is built with a fully redundant electrical and electronic architecture across power, communications, and motion control, including its drive-by-wire system, which Tensor says ensures fail-safe operation. The robotaxi also features brake-by-wire, steer-by-wire and four-wheel steering.
Level 4 autonomous driving powered by AI
Tensor's approach to autonomous driving is built on what it refers to as the 'Tensor Foundation Model,' which is entirely data-driven as opposed to rule-based systems. It's based on a transformer architecture that allows the vehicle to 'learn complex patterns' based on its environment, according to the release.
The technology stack includes 'dual-system AI,' which the company says 'mirrors human cognition' for decision making. All of the vehicle's AV's perception, prediction, and motion planning systems were fine-tuned using real-world and simulated datasets.
One part of the dual AI system is designed to deliver quick vehicle responses through imitation learning from data collected from expert drivers. The other uses a multimodal visual language model to reason through rare edge cases, which have been known to trip up Waymo vehicles leaving them stuck. The VLM is trained on both proprietary and large-scale internet visual data, including images and videos, to help ensure the vehicle can adapt to any driving environment.
Other RoboCar features designed to improve the ownership experience are vehicle self-diagnostics, automatic over-the-air software updates, autonomous parking and charging, and even protective sensor covers to protect the sensors from pollen, dust, sand, or debris while not in use. The vehicle's sensor-cleaning systems have dedicated wipers and nozzles to ensure the units remain free from dirt and road grime that could degrade their performance.
To address data privacy concerns of connecting to the cloud, Tensor's RoboCar stores all user location, preferences and other data locally on the vehicle for a high level of security. But users can access their data via an encrypted smartphone app or onboard interface, making data impossible to track, extract or compromise, according to Tensor.
Building software-defined vehicles at scale remains a challenge for automakers, so as a new startup, Tensor turned to industry partners to develop its RoboCar. The company said the vehicle's advanced features are a direct result of its close collaboration with Tier 1 suppliers, including Autoliv, ZF, Bosch, Continental, Veoneer and others. Tensor also partnered with chipmakers Nvidia, AMD, NXP, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and Samsung.
Tensor also said it's working with global insurance broker and risk advisor Marsh to offer customers what it calls 'the world's first insurance policy for RoboCars.'
Tensor did not share any information about pricing for its RoboCar in the release.
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