MotorTrend Testing Director
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MotorTranscript
00:00It is amazing how far and wide Tesla's influence has spread.
00:09This vehicle, Zhiyun One, has a very different display approach with this long, wide display.
00:18It's really quite cool feeling, but, you know, slide on the touchscreen to shift into drive
00:22and you've got this yoke-like steering wheel.
00:25Let's have a go.
00:32There is a very noticeable delay between lifting off the brake and actually getting the power
00:36delivery you're expecting.
00:38That annoys me.
00:39EVs are supposed to be instantaneous, 6.1 seconds to 60, quarter mile in 14.6.
00:46This car was originally shown in Concept Car as, I believe it was called the Robo Car,
00:51but I don't have a license to drive in China, so I can't test any of the Zhiyun's autonomous
00:56features.
00:57I do, however, have access to proving grounds and enough cones to set up Motor Trend's signature
01:01figure-eight course.
01:03With 268 horsepower, the Zhiyun isn't exactly powerful, but this rear-drive EV will rotate
01:08under power, or at least it wants to rotate.
01:12The ESC system keeps it from ever getting frisky.
01:14A little bit of ESC intervention there.
01:20Braking into corners and looping around the ends, the body control is legitimately impressive.
01:26Even more so when you consider that it weighs nearly 5,000 pounds.
01:31This steering has a disconnected digital feeling that's common among Chinese EVs, even though
01:36the yoke is physically attached to the front wheels.
01:39The Zhiyun does not have a steer-by-wire system like the Tesla Cybertruck.
01:44Instead, like the Tesla Model S, you have to be very intentional about where you place
01:48your hands when making tight turns.
01:50If you don't pay attention, you might grab a fistful of air instead of the yoke.
01:57At 27.1 seconds around the figure-eight, the Zhiyun won't set your pulse racing, but this
02:02car is supposed to be about technology.
02:04While we couldn't test Zhiyun's point-to-point autonomy feature, our understanding based
02:08on other reviews is that the name is just as misleading as Tesla's full self-driving.
02:13The so-called robo-car still needs a driver at the wheel and paying attention at all times.
02:19There's a voice assistant you can talk to from outside the car to roll down the windows
02:23or open the power-operated doors, which is a cool party trick, but not so cool that it
02:27renders door handles obsolete.
02:29We'd prefer a more conventional way to get into the car.
02:33The Zhiyun 1, then, seems to subscribe to the same old hype-and-dupe philosophy we've
02:37seen from so many startups.
02:39Some of the tech is underwhelming, some of it's frankly amazing.
02:43And a lot of the stuff in between those two extremes would be totally wasted on American car buyers.