News
Lucid is expanding into Europe with two Air Dream Edition trim levels
Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) announced its initial launch plans for the European market today, which will be marked by the forthcoming availability of two configurations of the automaker’s Air Dream Edition sedan.
Lucid said it would release the Air Dream Edition R, optimized for efficiency with 900 kilometers, or 559 miles, of range, and the Dream Edition P, which features 1,111 horsepower. Lucid said it would also open its first European retail location at Odeonsplatz in Munich, Germany on May 13.
“The expansion into Europe and the decision to offer Lucid Air Dream Edition in this market serve to strengthen Lucid’s position as a global brand and further supports our mission to elevate the standards of the electric vehicle industry,” Zak Edson, Vice President of Sales and Service for Lucid Group, said. “The company’s first offering, Lucid Air Dream Edition, delivers 0-100 km acceleration in 2.7 seconds or an estimated 900 km* of range on a single charge, along with a 924 V electrical architecture for impressive fast charging – all the performance, the quality, and the range that make it perfectly suited for the European market.”
Lucid’s first European retail location – the Lucid Studio at Odeonsplatz in Munich, Germany – is a luxury retail space that invites customers to experience the brand and its products in the heart of the iconic old town area. The company expects to open additional studios and service centers in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland in 2022, and has the ambition to expand into additional key markets across the European continent in the coming years.
Lucid launched the Edition R and Edition P Air Dream Edition sedans in North America with a limited launch of only 520 units. Lucid said it would offer a “very limited number” of these trim levels to existing reservation holders in Europe to celebrate the European launch of the car. It will be offered to reservation holders in Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.
Dream Edition P
- Dual Motor AWD Powertrain
- 1,111 Horsepower
- 7 seconds 0-60 MPH
- 77 MPH Top Speed
- Specially developed Pirelli P-Zero tires – 245935 21” Front and 265/35 21” Rear, 19” optional
Dream Edition R
- Dual Motor AWD Powertrain
- 933 Horsepower
- 9 seconds 0-60 MPH
- 77 MPH Top Speed
- Specially developed Pirelli P-Zero tires – 245/45 19”, 21” optional
Both the Lucid Air Dream Edition P and R will be priced differently in each country:
- Germany – €218,000
- Netherlands – €222,000
- Switzerland – CHF 199,000
- Norway -NOK 1,850,000
First deliveries are expected to begin in late 2022, Lucid said. Pricing for Lucid’s other Air trim levels, including the Pure, Touring, and Grand Touring, will be announced later this year. Prices are expected to start at approximately €100,000 for the Air Pure in Germany and the Netherlands, CHF 100,000 in Switzerland, and NOK 1,000,000 in Norway.
Lucid currently accepts reservations for its products in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Reservation holders are required to put down a €300 deposit to secure their place in line. These markets were specifically chosen due to charging infrastructure, market acceptance, and size, Lucid said. It also plans to expand into more European regions in the future and plans to build additional sales studios in major European cities, as well as develop a right-hand-drive model for the UK.
Lucid Group reported its earnings for Q1 2022 last week, indicating it would have to increase prices due to rising raw material costs and supply chain challenges.
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Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Version 3 booster crumples in early testing
Photos of the incident’s aftermath suggest that Booster 18 will likely be retired.
SpaceX’s new Starship first-stage booster, Booster 18, suffered major damage early Friday during its first round of testing in Starbase, Texas, just one day after rolling out of the factory.
Based on videos of the incident, the lower section of the rocket booster appeared to crumple during a pressurization test. Photos of the incident’s aftermath suggest that Booster 18 will likely be retired.
Booster test failure
SpaceX began structural and propellant-system verification tests on Booster 18 Thursday night at the Massey’s Test Site, only a few miles from Starbase’s production facilities, as noted in an Ars Technica report. At 4:04 a.m. CT on Friday, a livestream from LabPadre Space captured the booster’s lower half experiencing a sudden destructive event around its liquid oxygen tank section. Post-incident images, shared on X by @StarshipGazer, showed notable deformation in the booster’s lower structure.
Neither SpaceX nor Elon Musk had commented as of Friday morning, but the vehicle’s condition suggests it is likely a complete loss. This is quite unfortunate, as Booster 18 is already part of the Starship V3 program, which includes design fixes and upgrades intended to improve reliability. While SpaceX maintains a rather rapid Starship production line in Starbase, Booster 18 was generally expected to validate the improvements implemented in the V3 program.
Tight deadlines
SpaceX needs Starship boosters and upper stages to begin demonstrating rapid reuse, tower catches, and early operational Starlink missions over the next two years. More critically, NASA’s Artemis program depends on an on-orbit refueling test in the second half of 2026, a requirement for the vehicle’s expected crewed lunar landing around 2028.
While SpaceX is known for diagnosing failures quickly and returning to testing at unmatched speed, losing the newest-generation booster at the very start of its campaign highlights the immense challenge involved in scaling Starship into a reliable, high-cadence launch system. SpaceX, however, is known for getting things done quickly, so it would not be a surprise if the company manages to figure out what happened to Booster 18 in the near future.
News
Tesla FSD (Supervised) is about to go on “widespread” release
In a comment last October, Elon Musk stated that FSD V14.2 is “for widespread use.”
Tesla has begun rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) V14.2, and with this, the wide release of the system could very well begin.
The update introduces a new high-resolution vision encoder, expanded emergency-vehicle handling, smarter routing, new parking options, and more refined driving behavior, among other improvements.
FSD V14.2 improvements
FSD (Supervised) V14.2’s release notes highlight a fully upgraded neural-network vision encoder capable of reading higher-resolution features, giving the system improved awareness of emergency vehicles, road obstacles, and even human gestures. Tesla also expanded its emergency-vehicle protocols, adding controlled pull-overs and yielding behavior for police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances, among others.
A deeper integration of navigation and routing into the vision network now allows the system to respond to blocked roads or detours in real time. The update also enhances decision-making in several complex scenarios, including unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and interactions with school buses. All in all, these improvements should help FSD (Supervised) V14.2 perform in a very smooth and comfortable manner.
Elon Musk’s predicted wide release
The significance of V14.2 grows when paired with Elon Musk’s comments from October. While responding to FSD tester AI DRIVR, who praised V14.1.2 for fixing “95% of indecisive lane changes and braking” and who noted that it was time for FSD to go on wide release, Musk stated that “14.2 for widespread use.”
FSD V14 has so far received a substantial amount of positive reviews from Tesla owners, many of whom have stated that the system now drives better than some human drivers as it is confident, cautious, and considerate at the same time. With V14.2 now rolling out, it remains to be seen if the update also makes it to the company’s wide FSD fleet, which is still populated by a large number of HW3 vehicles.
News
Tesla FSD V14.2 starts rolling out to initial batch of vehicles
It would likely only be a matter of time before FSD V14.2 videos are posted and shared on social media.
Tesla has begun pushing Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2 to its initial batch of vehicles. The update was initially observed by Tesla owners and veteran FSD users on social media platform X on Friday.
So far, reports of the update have been shared by Model Y owners in California whose vehicles are equipped with the company’s AI4 hardware, though it would not be surprising if more Tesla owners across the country receive the update as well.
Based on the release notes of the update, key improvements in FSD V14.2 include a revamped neural network for better detection of emergency vehicles, obstacles, and human gestures, as well as options to select arrival spots.
It would likely only be a matter of time before FSD V14.2 videos are posted and shared on social media.
Following are the release notes of FSD (Supervised) V14.2, as shared on X by longtime FSD tester Whole Mars Catalog.
Release Notes
2025.38.9.5
Currently Installed
FSD (Supervised) v14.2
Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2 includes:
- Upgraded the neural network vision encoder, leveraging higher resolution features to further improve scenarios like handling emergency vehicles, obstacles on the road, and human gestures.
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.
- Added handling to pull over or yield for emergency vehicles (e.g. police cars, fire trucks, ambulances.
- Added navigation and routing into the vision-based neural network for real-time handling of blocked roads and detours.
- Added additional Speed Profile to further customize driving style preference.
- Improved handling for static and dynamic gates.
- Improved offsetting for road debris (e.g. tires, tree branches, boxes).
- Improve handling of several scenarios including: unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and school busses.
- Improved FSD’s ability to manage system faults and improve scenarios like handling emergency vehicles, obstacles on the road, and human gestures.
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.
- Added handling to pull over or yield for emergency vehicles (e.g. police cars, fire trucks, ambulances).
- Added navigation and routing into the vision-based neural network for real-time handling of blocked roads and detours.
- Added additional Speed Profile to further customize driving style preference.
- Improved handling for static and dynamic gates.
- Improved offsetting for road debris (e.g. tires, tree branches, boxes).
- Improve handling of several scenarios, including unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and school buses.
- Improved FSD’s ability to manage system faults and recover smoothly from degraded operation for enhanced reliability.
- Added alerting for residue build-up on interior windshield that may impact front camera visibility. If affected, visit Service for cleaning!
Upcoming Improvements:
- Overall smoothness and sentience
- Parking spot selection and parking quality
SpaceX Starship Version 3 booster crumples in early testing
Tesla FSD (Supervised) is about to go on “widespread” release
