Lucid Motors has debuted a robotaxi idea automobile that it’s calling the “Lucid Lunar,” which it confirmed off at an investor day on Thursday in New York Metropolis.
It’s a two-seater automobile with no steering wheel or pedals, designed to be constructed on the identical underlying platform that Lucid Motors is creating for its upcoming “mid-size” sequence of electrical autos, the corporate stated.
Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff stated Lucid was already “engaged on” Lunar and that it will debut after the corporate launches its mid-size autos, however the firm later clarified to TechCrunch that there is no such thing as a energetic growth occurring on the devoted robotaxi — but.
Lucid Motors additionally stated Thursday that it’s close to an settlement with Uber to collaborate on a robotaxi primarily based on one of many mid-size autos Lucid has within the pipeline. Lucid Motors is at the moment working with autonomous automobile firm Nuro to make an autonomous model of the Gravity SUV that may launch on Uber’s community by the tip of this yr within the San Francisco space. Nuro and Lucid wouldn’t verify whether or not this new automobile will use Nuro’s know-how.
The bulletins got here close to the tip of Lucid’s investor day, however present that the corporate is more and more centered on attempting to construct up a enterprise round autonomy that may complement its electrical automobile gross sales. At one level throughout the presentation, Lucid Motors displayed a bar chart that confirmed the way it expects robotaxi partnership income to vastly eclipse the cash it makes from licensing its electrical automobile tech, although there was no label on the Y-axis.
Lucid can also be trying to make some cash on its partial autonomy play. The corporate revealed that it plans to supply month-to-month subscriptions for its DreamDrive Professional that scale up with elevated functionality beginning within the first half of 2027. Homeowners pays $69 per 30 days for the bottom driver help degree, or as a lot as $199 per 30 days for self-driving functionality that received’t require the driving force to take over at any level. (Lucid Motors has nonetheless not developed that extra superior functionality but, nor has another automaker, it ought to be famous.)
The corporate shared a slide Thursday that stated autonomy subscriptions “are the one largest software program monetization alternative.” It’s one thing that Tesla has been doing for some time with its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software program, and it’s an analogous strategy to what Rivian introduced at its personal “Autonomy & AI Day” in late December.
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Additionally like Rivian, Lucid Motors is working by itself in-cabin AI assistant. The corporate is aiming to make the assistant able to doing easy duties like turning the air con up or down, or dealing with advanced queries like discovering “one thing to try this’s somewhat distinctive, possibly off the overwhelmed path, and possibly has sort of a maritime or nautical vibe.” It’s not clear how effectively that works proper now; Lucid Motors’ try to demo the assistant reside throughout the occasion failed, and the corporate as an alternative confirmed a pre-recorded video.
The remainder of Lucid’s occasion centered closely on the corporate’s makes an attempt to drive down the price of manufacturing its autos, in addition to its efforts to push the boundaries of the effectivity of its electrical drivetrain. These shall be essential elements of constructing the mid-sized autos reasonably priced (they’re supposed to begin round $50,000) when the primary one hits the market by the tip of this yr. The corporate revealed that one shall be generally known as the Lucid Cosmos, and the second automobile shall be known as the Lucid Earth. The third title was not introduced on Thursday.
