Five things you didn't know about DreamDrive (eMail received)

[Alex]

I received this via email today. Sorry for the poor formatting. DreamDrive sounds hopeful, although I hope it doesn't just feature "Highway Assist", but also city driving.

Every Lucid Air is equipped with our advanced driver assistance technology: DreamDrive. We’ll be sharing the full reveal soon, but for now, here are five fascinating things about DreamDrive.

1. It has up to a whopping 32 sensors

DreamDrive has one of the most comprehensive sensor suites available, with up to 32 sensors — including the latest vision, radar, ultrasonic, and LIDAR technology.

2. It’s one of the only EVs with LIDAR and driver monitoring

Along with driver monitoring features to help you stay alert, Lucid Air also has the option for the highest-resolution LIDAR available (125-beam equivalent). So it sees things the human eye can’t, and is future-ready for what’s next.

3. It offers up to 36 driver assistance features (and counting)

DreamDrive has remarkable features that make driving Air a delight like Surround View Monitoring, Park In and Out, Front Cross Traffic Protection, and more. And it only gets better with over-the-air updates that keep your Air on the cutting edge.

4. It uses spatial alerts to help improve safety

DreamDrive takes advantage of Surreal Sound, Lucid Air’s available 21-speaker system, so alerts are delivered directionally. That means when bringing attention to something on your left, the alert comes from that side of the car.

5. It’s incredibly intuitive at every turn

Thanks to the elegant Lucid User Experience, interacting with DreamDrive feels effortless. You can activate its Highway Assist features with touch controls on the steering wheel or use the toggle for other controls.

 

[Lucken]

Received that yesterday too.

 

[hmp10]

DreamDrive sounds hopeful, although I hope it doesn't just feature "Highway Assist", but also city driving.

Just guessing here, but I suspect that city driving assistance will come with the Level 3 updates that Lucid said will arrive over the air 1-2 years after start of production. Lucid has said their ADAS will launch either at Level 2 or Level 2+ (whatever that is).

 

[Alex]

Just guessing here, but I suspect that city driving assistance will come with the Level 3 updates that Lucid said will arrive over the air 1-2 years after start of production. Lucid has said their ADAS will launch either at Level 2 or Level 2+ (whatever that is).

That would really "suck." Even though I'm getting the car for the range, 90% of my driving (seat time) will be in the city where I would want some driving assistance at least at the level that Tesla currently has with FSD. My wife's BMW (X5 plugin-hybrid) has some adequate city "self driving" tech, so I would think that Lucid Air with its 32 sensors would offer something better at least. I think they would have been further along had they stuck with the Mobile Eye partnership, considering the demos that Mobile Eye is showing.

(Every time I leave a comment here it seems I am whining about something)

 

[Lucken]

It’s interesting, I tend to have a different take on this with the Lucid as I did with my MS. I almost always purchase a car because driving enjoyment is high on my list. With that in mind I have little desire to turn the driving duties over to the car.

In fact, I found it less relaxing to use the self driving feature since I found it necessary to stay even more alert than when I was piloting myself. The occasional desire of the Tesla to drive me into a guardrail told me this was a feature that was not quite ready for prime time. Even though this behavior was not a common occurrence, its predisposition to revert to this behavior, even occasionally, was enough to not make this system ’relaxing’.

So for me this was more of a fun thing to show off to newbies. Today you can get a version of this feature on Toyotas and Hondas. So it’s not even that big a deal anymore. Of course a truly reliable system, capable of self-driving in a variety of environments, would be more useful. However again, I enjoy driving, not being chauffeured.

 

[hmp10]

I am also an infrequent user of driver assistance, even things as simple as cruise control. A couple of weeks ago I decided to turn on my Honda's cruise control for a stretch of road and found I had forgotten how. Since I tend to average a slightly higher speed than most traffic, I find myself constantly resetting or overriding the cruise control on those few occasions I have used it.

To me, driving is an enjoyable high-engagement activity, almost like a video game. I enjoy watching other cars maneuver and plotting my next move, be it switching a lane, adjusting a following distance, overtaking someone, etc. And I can do it for hours on end without tiring.

Alex Guberman of "E for Electric" did a recent review of his new VW ID.4 and apologized for not commenting on its ADAS features. He said he likes to drive, never used driver assistance in his three Teslas, and didn't intend to use it in the VW.

My brother, on the other hand, is right in line with Alex. He loves all the assistance he can get and has been trying to get cleared for beta testing FSD in his Tesla.

For all my current indifference toward ADAS, though, I am rooting for it all the way. As I near 70, I know my driving will eventually become impaired. I would love to have a car capable of keeping me free of dependence on others for my transportation needs, and a true self-driving car would go a long way toward that goal.

 

[Alex]

I guess my take is the opposite: I like to supervise the driving the car does. It lets me look around and check for dangers. I treat the car like a teenage driver, first learning to drive. There are occasions where it will make a mistake, but at least one hand is on the steering wheel and I can take over quickly. This lets me take my eyes off the road briefly to maybe change a radio station, pick up a drink or unwrap a protein bar.

My frequent long drives are mountainous roads from Tucson to Pinetop, AZ (200 miles each way). It is enjoyable to drive occasionally manually, but after doing this trip 4 times per month, it gets old and I like the car to take care of the winding roads. I just watch out for oncoming passing cars, falling rocks, moose and deer. There are areas where you can go well above the 45-65mph speed limit (about 20+mph over), but I have long gotten over this high speed driving and let the car drive no more than 5mph over the speed limit. The occasional 500 mile trip to CA is pretty monotonous, especially driving at night and the Lucid ADAS will definitely come in handy for that.

And speaking of falling rocks, I've never had an issue with rocks on the roadway with the Model X, especially putting it in the very high setting when it's raining and rocks are sliding off the mountain. With the Model S I have inadvertently run over some large rocks that were crushed by it's titanium shield - that car didn't have autopilot and I had to both drive myself and watch for obstacles, hence an automatic driving mode for the Lucid is necessary to be able to watch for obstacles and take over.