Faraday Future, the 18 month old electric car company dedicated to “redefining the world of mobility” has unveiled its first concept car, setting the tone for its future commercial product line.

The FF01 car, which was revealed at the company’s CES press event today features an augmented reality windscreen, extensive smart connectivity and a strong focus on driver comfort.

“The FF01 concept is a serious statement and a showcase for what Faraday Future is designed for,” said head of global design Richard Kim. “It’s an extreme tablet on wheels.”

The car’s augmented reality will serve as a “digital co-pilot”, and the car features learning AI to improve how it responds to drivers’ needs.

The physical design of the car is also intended to maximise the comfort of the driver, along with the vehicle’s aerodynamics.

The driver seat is positioned at a 45° angle, and the headrest contains the car’s “halo safety system”, which provides head and neck support alongside a supply of oxygen and water

Kim has also pushed the driver’s seat as far forward as possible to provide a teardrop shape that improves the FF01’s aerodynamic efficiency, and the car features aerotunnels to further improve this.

The vehicle has been designed and constructed using the company’s tailored variable platform architecture (VPA), a system that allows components such as batteries and motors to be arranged in different configurations, which enables the rapid development of a wide range of different vehicles using the same underlying parts.

“VPA provides us with many powerful options – it’s a designers dream. Virtually anything is possible,” said Kim, explaining that the FF01 is serving as “an extreme test bed that we’re working on for up-and-coming vehicles”.

VPA is also significant for the vehicle’s battery technology – a vital part of any electric car. Faraday Future’s vehicles will have their batteries arranged in configurable “strings” that mean multiple batteries are placed in rows between the two sets of wheels.

This is beneficial for the design of multiple different vehicles with higher power or distance needs, as more batteries can be easily added without needing to redesign the vehicle’s underlying setup. But it also serves to make the vehicle more reliable.

“Our batteries work in the same way as modern Christmas lights – if one goes out, the rest carry on working,” explained Nick Sampson, senior vice president of R&D and product development.

While the vehicle is impressive, those that were hoping for a car with autonomous capabilities will be disappointed, but probably not for very long.

The company made regular references to driverless vehicles during the conference, even mentioning adding support in its VPA, and made it clear that self-driving cars are part of the company’s future plans. There were also several comments about different approaches to ownership, suggesting the company is considering a rental model that is often proposed for driverless cars.

However, the company is keen to move to market as fast as possible, meaning in the short to medium term autonomous cars are not the best approach.

“While autonomous driving is coming, we also want to focus on how we spend our time in the car now, and make it enjoyable,” said Kim.

Faraday Future will be breaking ground on its first production facility, located in Nevada, US, next month, and plans to have a commercial product on the road before the decade is out.

“We will deliver our first production vehicle in only a couple of years time,” said Sampson.