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

[yosh1993]

For all you guys experiencing these issues, question, has your car been ceramic coated? I've never seen an issue in light drizzle.

I just started to experience this.....100% of the time it mists or rains I get this error. I have PPF and ceramic coating.

 

[sk8ndad]

There are some fairly interesting articles on Rain/fog interaction with LIDAR. Lucid uses a 905 nm RoboSense system. I would think that the system should still work in the rain and fog... At the end of the day though, sensor fusion (using multiple sensors to make decisions) is the answer. I think Lucid has all the necessary hardware, just not so sure the software is tuned correctly.

 

[Jdagr]

For all you guys experiencing these issues, question, has your car been ceramic coated? I've never seen an issue in light drizzle.

The first time I noticed the error message was on the way to the shop prior to getting my car ceramic coated and PPF placed. I have since seen the error message after getting the PPF and ceramic coat as well.

 

[BradSholl]

Got the “lidar blocked“ message several times Friday. It was just lightly drizzling. Car was otherwise relatively clean. I’ve had PPF and ceramic since the last week in Feb. but this was the first occurrence.

 

[Negan1000]

Got the “lidar blocked“ message several times in today's rain. First message was within a couple minutes out of the garage. Also this error seems to be happening more frequently since the last two updates.

 

[Sam6062]

That is one of the reasons the LiDar needs to be mounted inside and higher up in the roofline.

It needs to be free of debris.

Not all 905nm LiDar are made equal. ROBOSENSE is old tech and will hopefully be replaced by something better soon.

LiDar will really come into its own around the 2026 Model Year. Just remember the name MicroVision and MAVIN.

 

[Adnillien]

Not all 905nm LiDar are made equal. ROBOSENSE is old tech

Please elaborate on this statement. Robosense is using EEL (edge emitting lasers) like most 905nm solutions with SiPM (Silicon Photo Multiplier) on the sense side. I am not an expert on LIDAR but this combination seems to be leading the technology now. Robosense is still using dToF (direct time of flight) rather than FMCW (frequency modulated continuous wave). Since FMCW can provide more information in one pass, it will likely replace dToF in the future. Is this what you mean by old technology?

I am not familiar with MAVIN, but MicroVision appears to be using the same technology as Robosense, including dToF. I am very curious what additional information you can share on MicroVision or MAVIN.

 

[JDS]

I get the same error whenever it rains.

 

[Driveabout]

I got this error message multiple times on a recent 2,600 mile road trip that included rain, sleet and snow. I thought it was just due to the heavy downpours, but it happened again today with no rain.

 

[TakeDuo]

Drove home tonight for 35 mins in a downpour and zero LiDAR errors on .55 .

 

[EVCar]

Drove home tonight for 35 mins in a downpour and zero LiDAR errors on .55 .

Simple explanation: rain in SoCal is cleaner than elsewhere.

 

[Steveinarizona]

Simple explanation: rain in SoCal is cleaner than elsewhere.

Have you ever looked up in the air? The soot and haze come to Scottsdale from Southern California. You can see it just looking westward.

 

[JDS]

I just spoke to Lucid about this LiDAR error and they said this is normal during rain and fog. I asked them to send this information in the email and rep said she can't send it in the email.

 

[MoniputerLM]

I just spoke to Lucid about this LiDAR error and they said this is normal during rain and fog. I asked them to send this information in the email and rep said she can't send it in the email.

So, is this normal for all cars with LiDAR??

 

[Negan1000]

Simple explanation: rain in SoCal is cleaner than elsewhere.

Not true. I have 2.0.56 and get the blocked Lidar regularly in the recent rains. It shows up in a drizzle a couple of minutes out of the garage. This did not happen in January with earlier versions of software.

 

[BradSholl]

Not true. I have 2.0.56 and get the blocked Lidar regularly in the recent rains. It shows up in a drizzle a couple of minutes out of the garage. This did not happen in January with earlier versions of software.

I concur. Never happened until the recent versions of the software. The incident last week happened in a light drizzle, not a downpour or anything close to one.

 

[mraschko]

Wouldn't customer care have acknowledged this as a known issue or expressed more concern when I reached out to them? That was my first experience, so really don't know what to expect.

 

[eLUCID8]

I also get the LiDAR blocked warning sometimes. Very common when snowing, and it is always associated with snow/ice caked on the sensor. I have only occasionally had it happen with rain. When it does happen with rain, it seems to be associated with a dirty sensor from road grime that gets kicked up by cars in front of me. I am surprised it would happen with mist. You could try cleaning the sensor with a detailing wipe before going out in the mist/rain just to be sure there isn’t preexisting grime causing issues.

Perhaps a crazy idea, but I wonder if they could design a wiper for the LiDAR sensor with windshield washing fluid to help clear it.

 

[Tesla2.0]

I have been driving in rain, I haven’t had any Lidar issue.

 

[MorganB]

I just had the Lidar blocked error appear several times today for the first time while it was lightly raining and I have driven the vehicle often in rain. I am on 2.0.55. I feel like something has changed with a recent update as I have never seen this error previously.