Hands On Review of 2.8.0 Dream Drive Pro

[bmathieu]

With the 2.8.0 update, Lucid Airs with Dream Drive Pro finally get full hands-free driving mode in certain situations. Below is my review of this system. (Note: I am driving a 2025 Lucid Air GT.) Please post your own detailed reviews or comments.

Summary: Great in light traffic, more dicey in heavy traffic. Far from ‘self-driving’ but finally caught up to the industry standard.

So far I have tested the system over about 200 miles of divided highways/freeways in and around Northern California (Highway 5) and the San Francisco Bay Area. As expected, the results vary depending on your situation:

Light multi-lane traffic (9/10): The system worked flawlessly and I felt I could trust it (with my life). Lane centering was accurate and Lane Change Assist worked well. Even riding in the right lane (which contains exits and entrances that often spooked normal Drive Assist into phantom jerks of the steering wheel) was no issue. One issue I found: the gaze tracking that is used to ensure you aren’t reading your phone is so strict that it discourages shoulder checking and other ‘glances’ for safety that are part of any normal safe driving. A bit disconcerting but just trust the radar/lidar/cameras to do it, I guess. Definitely reduces driver tension/load in this driving situation.

Heavy multi-lane traffic with significant speed changes (6/10): This one was more iffy. Generally worked well, per above. But on two occasions during my 200 mile test, it apparently could not sense what was happening and I’m pretty sure I would have rammed into the car ahead of me or beside me if I had not grabbed manual control. Lane Change Assist worked about 50% of the time - the problem is: it was not obvious to me why it worked sometimes and didn’t others. In some cases it cut into surprisingly tight spots between vehicles that I would not have done. In other cases it wouldn’t turn in, even though there was nobody nearby. Odd. At the end of the day, I would still use Hands-Free Drive Assist for heavy traffic but I would be VERY alert to take over if necessary. How much does this required level of attention actually reduce my driver load? I’m not sure.

True stop and go traffic: I was not able to test in this situation and will update when I get a chance. My prediction is it will be similar to the heavy traffic situation above.

Overall it’s a good start and probably near the limit of what the hardware (CPU and sensors) will allow. At least the Air is up to the level of where many luxury cars have been for a few years now!

For my other reviews of Lucid Air systems, see my website: https://lucidair.info

 

[Nunya]

Has Lucid announced any kind of ADAS roadmap going forward? I'm not looking for perfection but a city streets version would be nice, especially with all of the sensors Gravity has.

 

[HC_79]

Has Lucid announced any kind of ADAS roadmap going forward? I'm not looking for perfection but a city streets version would be nice, especially with all of the sensors Gravity has.

Gravity currently works on city streets with DD Pro 2. Still very much a WIP though

 

[borski]

True stop and go traffic: I was not able to test in this situation and will update when I get a chance. My prediction is it will be similar to the heavy traffic situation above.

I used it in SF for this and it’s a godsend; because the acceleration and deceleration is relatively low, it works extremely well for this.

I agree with the rest of your assessment. The only time I’m still quite vigilant is heavy traffic on the highway. It hasn’t actually screwed up, but it occasionally does things differently from how I would, so I watch it more carefully. In light traffic or stop-and-go, it’s spectacular.

Oddly, it doesn’t seem to be bothered by my looking away, even for a few seconds. Perhaps it’s because I have two facial recognition profiles set up, one with sunglasses and one without?