WOW!!!
Lucid is on a roll!!!! I love the focus and momentum on the software front!! Drive Assist lane change, Android Auto, processor hardware upgrade option, and now Handsfree Drive Assist! I love it!! Hopefully dashcam/sentry mode is right around the corner!
Keep up the great work!
I share your enthusiasm. However, while there was a plethora of evidence that hands free Drive Assist was being actively developed across two separate owner events that I attended, I don't get the sense that dashcam/sentry is right around the corner.
As much as we've all been waiting for hands free, it's less of a 'capability' than it is 'being unlocked,' as a result of regulatory compliance hurdles being overcome, afaik. It's not actually doing that it wasn't capable of before. It's allowed hands free driving for short stints, but has required you to torque the wheel every now to show that you're actively participating. The actual driving capability isn't changing, afaik (unless they're adding net new features to the drive assist capability).
Sentry mode is a different animal. It requires multiple new interface options, configuration options, actively eats up storage, needs to provide a way for you to extract footage. It might also require a new vehicle state to be built where everything is off (not consuming power), except Sentry mode actively reading from the cameras and writing to storage. To that end, that will use SOME power, which means 'phantom drain', which means the UI will likely need to support geo-fencing where it's disabled if the car is at home, parked in the garage. Many users might only want it enabled while they're out and about and parked somewhere other than their house. Others might park outside at their house and want it enabled 24/7. Many uses cases to support.
All of that to say, hands free really feels like a step up for us (and it is, in terms of practical functionality),but from a feature development standpoint, it was little more than taking the shackles off the existing system, which was already doing the underlying thing we wanted....driving on its own on freeways, whereas Dashcam/Sentry is another animal (particularly Sentry).
@borski do you have any takes on any of the above, or do you have any awareness of where they are in terms of developing that functionality?
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