Lucid Motors Unveils Dream Drive ADAS System In Attempt To Compete With Tesla
DreamDrive will make its debut later this month with the Lucid Air Dream Edition and will be available in Grand Tour trim next year.
Friday, December 31, 2021 | Chimniii Desk
Lucid Motors, which has only recently begun manufacturing of the Lucid Air Dream Edition EV - but is now attempting to further distance itself from Tesla with the revelation of its ADAS capability called DreamDrive, which has 30 functions. Additionally, a Dream Drive Pro option will be available that includes a LiDAR and a future highway pilot programme that enables hands-free driving. The Lucid Air has been under development for almost a decade and has attracted over a billion dollars in financing, including from Saudi Arabia.
The Lucid Air's exterior is equipped with 32 sensors, including 14 visible-light cameras, five radar units, four surround-view cameras, and ultrasonic sensors. There is also a version with LiDAR, which Tesla has cautioned against, but the fact remains that all cars with autonomy greater than Level 2 have LiDA. Lucid Motors is effectively stating that this system is not fully self-driving, but rather ADAS, and that it is also superior to what Tesla offers.
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Lucid Motors has also demonstrated an ethernet ring with a high-speed data network that enables a computer gateway in each of the car's four corners to communicate at gigabit speeds. Its performance is excessive, and hence serves as redundancy for critical systems such as the brake, steering, and overall power.
Users will continue to receive additional features via over-the-air (OTA) upgrades as part of the DreamDrive Pro system.
"DreamDrive Pro is designed to expand in capability over time, owing to our ability to deliver software over the air and the presence of critical equipment in the car. Lucid is able to build new capabilities for DreamDrive Pro in-house because to its highly integrated hardware and software teams. This can boost every aspect of the DreamDrive Pro experience, from the frequency of updates to the Highway Pilot system's planned implementation on certain highways in the future years "Dr. Eugene Lee, Lucid Motors' senior director of ADAS and autonomous driving, stated.
It could be the first consumer-grade application of a LiDAR on a mass-produced car in the United States. While Waymo and Cruise have self-driving cars in the United States, they are not consumer-owned.
Additionally, this LiDAR will complement Lucid's surround-view monitoring, providing drivers with a 360-degree perspective. It will be available in either the Air Dream Edition or Grand Touring trim levels.
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Lucid's ADAS technology is called DreamDrive
DreamDrive will aid the driver in high-speed and congested conditions, such as highway assist, which combines adaptive cruise control with lane-centering to maintain a safe space between the Lucid Air and the car ahead on the highway. The traffic jam helper will drive the automobile at a speed of 64 kilometres per hour, while the lane assist will maintain the vehicle in the lane when the lines are blocked or obscured by a traffic signal. Lucid has also hinted that the highway aid feature may eventually give a hands-free driving experience, something that the Tesla AutoPilot does not now offer.
There is also an auto-park mode for parallel and perpendicular parking spaces that will bring the car to you and exit the space automatically. If it parks on a hill, it will even turn the front wheels toward or away from a curb. DreamDrive will make its debut this month, as Lucid Air deliveries begin.
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