Lidar Blocked whenever it rains - what does the Lidar do?

cyberwife

Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2022
Messages
94
Cars
Lucid Air Grand Touring
I am not up on auto technology - but what exactly does the Lidar do? I ask becuase I am wondering what features it impacts in the Lucid Air GT. Every time it rains I get a message on my dash while driving that says "Lidar Blocked - Try Cleaning Sensor". So what will not work on the car if it's blocked, becuase I am not going to stop my car every few miles and wipe the sensors off. And which sensors are the Lidar sensor? Is it just in front of the car or ? I am concerned that it will make the distance to the next car sensors not work - and frankly when it is raining I REALLY want my car to stop instead of slide into the car in front of me on wet pavement. I would think that you should be able to drive this car in the rain - but maybe not....I already hesitate to drive it due to the fragility of the tires, so this is just increasing concerns. Anyone know about Lidar?
 
I am not up on auto technology - but what exactly does the Lidar do? I ask becuase I am wondering what features it impacts in the Lucid Air GT. Every time it rains I get a message on my dash while driving that says "Lidar Blocked - Try Cleaning Sensor". So what will not work on the car if it's blocked, becuase I am not going to stop my car every few miles and wipe the sensors off. And which sensors are the Lidar sensor? Is it just in front of the car or ? I am concerned that it will make the distance to the next car sensors not work - and frankly when it is raining I REALLY want my car to stop instead of slide into the car in front of me on wet pavement. I would think that you should be able to drive this car in the rain - but maybe not....I already hesitate to drive it due to the fragility of the tires, so this is just increasing concerns. Anyone know about Lidar?

You should NOT get this message just because it rains... I drive in the rain all the time, and it doesn't happen for me.
 
I am not up on auto technology - but what exactly does the Lidar do? I ask becuase I am wondering what features it impacts in the Lucid Air GT. Every time it rains I get a message on my dash while driving that says "Lidar Blocked - Try Cleaning Sensor". So what will not work on the car if it's blocked, becuase I am not going to stop my car every few miles and wipe the sensors off. And which sensors are the Lidar sensor? Is it just in front of the car or ? I am concerned that it will make the distance to the next car sensors not work - and frankly when it is raining I REALLY want my car to stop instead of slide into the car in front of me on wet pavement. I would think that you should be able to drive this car in the rain - but maybe not....I already hesitate to drive it due to the fragility of the tires, so this is just increasing concerns. Anyone know about Lidar?
I get same warning when it rains; LIDAR sensor blocked. Depends on type of rain (initial fine mist is worst) and often does not stay blocked.
 
Can confirm. We had a mediocre rain, probably more on the sprinkling or misting side and I was getting that error off and on during my commute. I was wondering if someone was not calibrated correctly, as it seemed like Lidar should penetrate that light of precipitation...

Maybe someone from Lucid could chime in if they see this and give some guidance on when to file a work order to check it out, or if this is expected/normal behavior?
 
Confirm I get the error, too. It seems the consensus is that this has manifested since the recent updates. Possible .52. But I’m in California and get rain infrequently. This current weather has the LiDAR message coming up nearly every rain it encounters. It did not happen previously. Probable software update fix in the future.
 
...And which sensors are the Lidar sensor? Is it just in front of the car or ?...

Yes, there's only 1 LIDAR in Lucid, right in the front, under the hood, below the word "Lucid". It looks like half of a blue glossy hockey pug:

oLuMTl6.jpg


It stands for Light Detection And Ranging. Radar uses radio waves, Lidar uses a laser.

Rain used to render LIDAR useless but lately, if you got a good software team, rain is no longer a problem:


I am not sure LIDAR is being used in your Lucid right now. It is great at avoiding stationary obstacles, while radar is very good at detecting moving obstacles but very bad at parking firetrucks.
 
I am not sure LIDAR is being used in your Lucid right now. It is great at avoiding stationary obstacles, while radar is very good at detecting moving obstacles but very bad at parking firetrucks.
The hyperlink is Tesla’s accident. Tesla never uses lidar, that organization doesn’t believe in outsourced parts with high cost which they cannot be controlled by vertical integration.
 
Interesting. I too live in California (northern) and we’ve had a lotttt of rain lately, never once had the LiDAR error..
 
Got the lidar error for the first time yesterday. It wasn't blocked.
 
I get the same error whenever it rains.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BNL
Confirm I get the error, too. It seems the consensus is that this has manifested since the recent updates. Possible .52. But I’m in California and get rain infrequently. This current weather has the LiDAR message coming up nearly every rain it encounters. It did not happen previously. Probable software update fix in the future.
I got the Lidar error message during last week's rain. I think it is due to the last update. Earlier rains - no Lidar error message.
 
I’ve also been getting the same message recently when it rains along with the triangle/exclamation point warning.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BNL
I’m leaning towards potential but from 2.0.55 and some folks hardware. I’m on 2.0.55, and drove in heavy rain this morning, and many times since 2.0.55 and never once had this warning.
 
Curious - Does anyone know if Lidar was actually active and being used before ~.52/.55? Is it possible that they are just now activating and utilizing Lidar?

Someone either here or on another forum, I can't recall where, made mention that not all sensors were in use yet...
 
Curious - Does anyone know if Lidar was actually active and being used before ~.52/.55? Is it possible that they are just now activating and utilizing Lidar?

Someone either here or on another forum, I can't recall where, made mention that not all sensors were in use yet...
I assume lidar is not used just yet because the car doesn't slow down for stationary obstacles.

It's possible that the codes for lidar had just been added to detect rainy conditions as a start.

We still need meaningful programming codes for the car to slow down to a complete stop for stationary obstacles.
 
I assume lidar is not used just yet because the car doesn't slow down for stationary obstacles.

It's possible that the codes for lidar had just been added to detect rainy conditions as a start.

We still need meaningful programming codes for the car to slow down to a complete stop for stationary obstacles.
Wait, your car doesn’t slow down to a stop for stopped vehicles? Adaptive cruise/HA and mine will stop for cars stationary ahead of me at lights or traffic.
 
I was in a very heavy downpour for almost an hour yesterday and didn't get the Lidar blocked message. My right wiper stopped moving during the storm, but no Lidar issue 😀
 
...Adaptive cruise/HA and mine will stop for cars stationary ahead of me at lights or traffic...
No. Mine does not. I've talked to other owners while charging at Electrify America, and they also complain the same.

The owner's manual, page 97 says:

"WARNING: Adaptive Cruise Control may not detect stationary or slowmoving vehicles below 6 mph (10 km/h)."
 
Back
Top