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Here’s When Lucid Will Activate Hands-Free Driving
But owners will have to wait for more advanced features down the road, as they face regulatory barriers.
Hands-free driving has become one of the more popular Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) features over the years, first working its way into the technological lineups of luxury models.
But the ability to drive without keeping one's hands on the steering wheel is now expected in many types of vehicles, along with systems that ensure their safe use.
As part of Lucid's DreamDrive Pro suite of ADAS features, the company is now adding Hands-Free Drive Assist and Hands-Free Lane Change Assist via an over-the-air update to the Air sedan, starting July 30.
And owners of the Lucid Gravity are next in line to receive this update in the coming months, Lucid says.
"The addition of these features to Lucid's DreamDrive Pro offers a glimpse into the future that Lucid is building with the impressive capabilities of our software-defined vehicles," said Kay Stepper, Vice President of ADAS and autonomous driving at Lucid.
Lucid's DreamDrive Pro is technically an SAE Level 2 system, analogous in this manner to Tesla's Autopilot, with both requiring driver attention to the road at all times even if drivers can keep their hands off the steering wheel for varying lengths of time.
Lucid's Level 2 system includes a driver attention monitoring feature to make sure drivers are indeed paying attention to traffic.
Where the two automakers' systems differ is that Lucid uses a total of 32 sensors including lidar, radar, ultrasonic systems, and cameras as part of the overall package, while Tesla now relies solely on cameras, including for its recently launched SAE Level 4 service in Austin.
In this respect, Tesla is an outlier, relying on a far more limited type of input to operate its semi-autonomous systems.
Lucid's package is engineered to be upgradeable to an SAE Level 3 system that will permit drivers to take their eyes off the road for prolonged periods of time, though this capability has not been distributed via OTA updates just yet.
"With our in-house software stack, a comprehensive suite of 32 sensors, and regular OTA updates, we have a roadmap to continue to deliver significantly more functionality to our owners in the future," Stepper adds.
SAE Level 3 systems have seen a much slower roll-out in the US, with only Mercedes-Benz offering its eyes-off system in a couple of US states that permit them.
In that sense, there is a regulatory roadblock facing eyes-off systems, as states and the federal government remain wary of technologies that permit drivers to text or watch movies behind the wheel—the holy grail of the morning commute.
At the moment there isn't a roadmap permitting SAE Level 3 systems on a nationwide basis, so it's not just a matter of automakers remotely activating these features in cars that already have the necessary hardware installed.
Would you pay $200 a month for a system that would let you take your eyes off the road, or would you not trust such a system? Let us know in the comments below.