Others talk the talk, but they’re lucidly walking the walk.
Lucid Motors, the electric vehicle (EV) upstart favourite coming out of the United States, has confirmed to the media that self-driving hardware will be featured in its incoming Lucid saloon, that will make its market debut sometime in 2018. The hardware only makes up half of the story, and we’ll get to the other half shortly.
Lucid has every intention of making its Air luxury saloon self-driving capable, equipping it with no less than six cameras, supplemented by radar and liar sensors, allowing the Air to map the world around it. All this data will then be processed through software brought on board by partners Mobileye. The software provided will make use of the surround view processing, sensor fusion software, Road Experience Management, and crowd-based localisation capability.
All of this, according to Mobileye, will enable a suite of advanced driver assistance (ADAS) systems to be available when the Air launches. Additionally, over-the-air wireless updates to the car will allow it to be fully autonomous in the future, when relevant legislation permits it. The Air itself isn’t due for production until 2018, but that hasn’t stopped it from collecting praise and positive reviews from critics and observers alike since its official launch a few weeks ago. A gorgeous exterior is paired with a sumptuous interior, which is then mated to a 1,000hp (or 745kW) drivetrain.
When it goes to market, it will be fitted with either a 100kWh or 130kWh battery pack, the bigger of which will permit the Air to travel up to 643km on one full charge. 250 first-edition examples will be priced at roughly US$160,000 (or around $212,000 according to current exchange rates) at launch, after which Lucid intends to introduce slightly more affordable models.
Follow CarShowroom to keep up with the development of Lucid and its Air luxury saloon.
