Connect with us
lucid lucid

News

Lucid launches its biggest OTA update yet with ‘hundreds’ of new features

Lucid UX 2.0 (Credit: Lucid Group)

Published

on

Lucid announced this morning it had launched Lucid UX 2.0, its most extensive and biggest software update, which packs “hundreds of updates and new features for every Lucid Air on the road.”

Designed as a “true software-defined vehicle,” Lucid says the Air will benefit vastly from the array of new improvements. Including new features like “Instant-On” Glass Cockpit and Pilot Panel Displays, the launch of “Highway Assist” for DreamDrive, and redesigned on-screen layouts, Lucid said the complementary update makes the vehicle more enjoyable and easier to use.

Advertisement

Since launching deliveries of the Air last year, Lucid has worked to ramp production and solve supply chain issues that have plagued the automaker’s progress. Yesterday, the company announced one of its strongest quarters to date, with 2,282 units produced last quarter with 1,398 delivered.

It has been a bright spot on a relatively disappointing year as Lucid has trimmed delivery projections for 2022 on two occasions. First aiming for 20,000 vehicles produced in 2022, then slashing to between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles. In August, Lucid pushed this goal back to between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles.

Software Improvements

Lucid’s early EV software has been hit-and-miss, with some owners detailing various issues with basic functions that have made the vehicles stressful to drive. However, the automaker has developed a vast update that starts at the heart of software. SVP of Digital for Lucid, Michael Bell, detailed the improvements:

“This extensive software update, comprising tens of millions of new lines of source code across nearly every updateable computer in the vehicle, is achievable because the Lucid Air was engineered from the start with the capability to get better over time. Thanks to our integrated software and hardware engineering, Lucid has the in-house technical depth to enhance our vehicles long after they leave the assembly line.”

Advertisement

The Lucid UX 2.0 is completely designed and fabricated on owner feedback and ideas, Derek Jenkins, Senior VP of Design and Brand said. “Lucid’s truly innovative user interface becomes easier to use and even more aesthetically beautiful in each iteration, delivered seamlessly over-the-air to the vehicle.”

Glass Cockpit and Pilot Panel Displays

  • “Instant-on” displays, so the car is ready to drive as soon as the driver sits down and buckles up.
  • New on-screen layout for the Glass Cockpit display, moving the controls for the most-used apps like Home, Navigation, Media, and Phone to make Lucid UX more ergonomically friendly than ever.
  • Updated Navigation and maps, with turn-by-turn directions now appearing on the center display directly ahead of the driver.
  • More-intelligent prediction of remaining range, so drivers know even better what they can expect on the road.
  • Do more with Alexa Built-In voice control, such as change the climate control settings for the rear seat.
  • A more user-friendly browsing experience for third-party media apps, making it easier to see options, select favorite tunes, and start listening more quickly.

DreamDrive and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

  • Highway Assist with active lane centering and adaptive cruise control, allowing for even greater driving comfort on long journeys.
  • Rear Pedestrian Collision Protection is now also enabled when the vehicle is in Drive and rolling backwards.
  • Improvements to visual cues for Park Distance Warning feature.

Intelligent Micro Lens Array Headlights

  • High Beam Assist that detects not only other vehicles, but other sources of nearby light, and automatically switches to low beams when most appropriate.
  • Automatic headlight leveling with sensor-based adjustments for height and vehicle angle in relation to the ground.

Vehicle Entry and Exit

  • New De-Ice Mode combines defrost, automatic wiper blade movement, and wiper fluid to clear ice that may be obstructing the view through the windshield.
  • A number of measures to make automatic locking and unlocking simpler, more intuitive, and more responsive with both the key fob and Mobile Key, as well as additional user-customizable settings.

Disclosure: Joey Klender is not an LCID shareholder.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

Tesla Phone? Not quite, but close: analyst

Published

on

elon musk phone
Photo: Boss Hunting.com.au

For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.

Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.

Advertisement

It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.

Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.

The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.

Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.

Advertisement

The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.

SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.

There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.

The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Tesla reveals huge Cybercab detail in new guide for First Responders

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla revealed a major new Cybercab detail in a guide it released for First Responders, showing new territory in its beliefs and intentions for the ride-hailing-focused vehicle that entered production in April.

The First Responders Guide is released to give fire departments, paramedics, and other emergency personnel the proper guidance on what to do in the event of an accident, entrapment, or other situation that would require immediate attention.

On one of the pages of the First Responders Guide, Tesla revealed a stark detail about the Cybercab, which could help personnel enter the vehicle more easily in case of an emergency.

Tesla Cybercab has one important piece that AI4 cars might need for FSD

Advertisement

It shows Tesla has no intention of releasing any Cybercab units that were initially proposed for ride-hailing services for the general public with any manual controls, meaning a steering wheel or pedals:

“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or acceleration and brake pedals.”

This is a major development for those who continue to believe Tesla planned to release the Cybercab with any sort of manual controls so that passengers could take over if needed. However, when Tesla started manufacturing production versions of the Cybercab in Giga Texas earlier this year, they were spotted without a steering wheel or pedals.

It essentially confirms the company has no intentions of bringing manual controls to the car’s production versions. Some have argued that the likelihood of Tesla having something

There still are some Cybercab units out there with a steering wheel and pedals, and as Tesla said, these cars are engineering or test vehicles, which have Safety Monitors on board to help the car out of a precarious situation or emergency.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ Release Notes: new capabilities and features

Published

on

(Credit: Megan Gale/Twitter)

Tesla released the Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite to owners of Hardware 3 or AI3 vehicles today, adding several new features to the vehicles that were once believed to be capable of unsupervised self-driving.

Now, Tesla has released this modified suite to older Tesla vehicles, adding plenty of new features and capabilities.

Here are the full release notes for the suite:

  • Distilled the intelligence from HW4 V14 into HW3. This allows HW3 to directly learn how to handle scenarios using HW4 V14 as a guide. This process unlocks the improvements that have been made to HW4 including Reinforcement Learning (RL) and offline models for HW3.
  • Improved both proactive and reactive responsiveness across a wide variety of categories including navigation handling, merges and forks, pedestrian interactions, traffic lights, and vehicle cut-in scenarios.
  • Improved general comfort in nominal scenarios through fewer false slowdowns, smoother steering and more consistent lane centering.
  • Introduced parking, unparking, and reversing capabilities.
  • Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, or at the Curbside.
  • Speed Profiles are now available at all times, to further customize driving style preference.

These improvements, according to Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, help distill the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of AI3.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released

Advertisement

He added:

“It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety. We hope you’ll enjoy it, once the build ships wide.”

Tesla will continue to roll out the v14 Lite suite more widely in the coming weeks, the company said.

Continue Reading