Lucid targets industry-first self-driving car technology with Nvidia

Lucid Group is targeting a new goal that would make it the first automaker to offer highly advanced self-driving capabilities in its vehicles in the coming years, the company said Tuesday.

The all-electric vehicle manufacturer expects to launch what it’s calling “mind-off” driving in which a car can essentially drive itself under normal circumstances without a human needing to monitor it or intervene unless there’s a change in circumstances, such as severe weather. That would be like an occupant playing a game of cards or watching TV while the car is driving.

Lucid on Tuesday said it plans to leverage Nvidia‘s “Drive AV” platform and multisensor suite that includes cameras, radar, and lidar — or light detection and sensing, which allows the vehicle to better “see” its surroundings — for the forthcoming system.

Marc Winterhoff, interim CEO of Lucid, said the plan is to debut the new system “definitely in the coming years,” but he declined to specify an exact timeframe other than it won’t be in 2026. The system is first planned for Lucid’s upcoming midsize vehicle before it would expand to other models, he said.

“I want to make sure that we can offer this for our customers in a timeframe that I think is very ambitious, but at the same time, also we’re realistic,” Winterhoff told CNBC. “The main reason why I decided to not start from scratch, just do it ourselves, it’s simply time to market. … Also, it would cost a lot of money.”

Winterhoff said Nvidia’s technologies will be a catalyst for the system, while Lucid plans to actually execute the self-driving technology.

In the meantime, Winterhoff said Lucid plans to continue to increase the automated technologies on its current vehicles — the Air sedan and Gravity SUV — in partnership with Nvidia.

“It will be a stepping stone,” said Winterhoff, who has served as interim CEO since company founder Peter Rawlinson left as chief executive in February.

Many companies, including General Motors and Tesla, have promised personal self-driving vehicles but have failed to deliver. Automakers have invested billions of dollars working on autonomous vehicles in recent years, with most pulling back spending after years of trying to deploy the technologies.

What Lucid is aiming to launch is what the industry refers to as “Level 4: High Driving Automation.” As defined by SAE International, formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, Level 4 technologies should not require monitoring or human intervention under certain, but not all, conditions.

There are a limited number of Level 4 vehicles currently on U.S. roadways. Most notably, Alphabet‘s Waymo operates robotaxis in a variety of cities. Lucid is saying it plans to be the first for a consumer vehicle.

Achieving such a system for Lucid will be daunting, especially given its track record on advanced driver assistance system, or ADAS.

The company, by its own admission, has not lived up to its customers’ expectations. It has been slow to release systems capable of hands-free driving, like many companies offer, or compete with well-known “Level 2” technologies such as GM’s “Super Cruise” or Tesla’s “Autopilot” or “FSD.”

Meanwhile, it’s set to be a record year for EV sales, but demand for all-electric cars is expected to decline with the end of federal incentives of up to $7,500.

Lucid announced the self-driving technology plans as well as other initiatives in conjunction with the Nvidia GTC global artificial intelligence conference taking place this week in Washington, D.C.