Saudi Arabia-backed electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid has announced a new partnership with Nvidia to develop autonomous vehicles for consumers. The company will leverage Nvidia’s hardware and software technologies to achieve this goal. The agreement covers not only the vehicles themselves but also the design of Lucid’s production lines using artificial intelligence.
Lucid and Nvidia join forces: Autonomous vehicles are coming to consumers
Founded by former Tesla employees, Lucid is already known for its Air sedan, considered the most efficient electric vehicle in North America. This year, the company added the Gravity SUV to its product line. Needing to increase sales to the tens of thousands to achieve profitability, Lucid plans to launch a more affordable mid-size crossover in 2027, targeted to cost under $50,000.
Lucid will use Nvidia GPUs in its new vehicles to deliver a “truly eyes-, hands-, and mind-free” autonomous driving system. Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff stated, “By combining artificial intelligence with Lucid’s engineering excellence, we will deliver the smartest and safest autonomous vehicles on the road.” Winterhoff stated that the partnership with Nvidia continues to strengthen American innovation leadership in the pursuit of autonomous mobility.
In the first phase, the Gravity SUV will feature a more advanced partially automated driving assistant, “powered by Nvidia Drive AV.” The next step is to implement “Level 4” autonomous driving. This system will enable the vehicle to drive itself from point A to point B without human intervention within specific geographic boundaries or limited operational areas.
This goal is considered more limited but more achievable than Tesla’s “Level 5” (go anywhere) dream. Companies like Waymo and Zoox are also developing Level 4 technologies, but these systems are generally designed for fleet management. Lucid, however, aims to offer this technology directly to the end consumer. The new mid-size EV platform will feature two Nvidia Drive AGX Thor computers. Using Nvidia’s software infrastructure will also relieve Lucid of the need for constant updates.
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang emphasized that vehicles are becoming “software-defined supercomputers on wheels.” Customers are already accustomed to paying for advanced driver assistance systems like General Motors’ Super Cruise. Lucid hopes to create a significant revenue model by offering a much more advanced autonomous system.
Another key aspect of the agreement relates to manufacturing processes. Using Nvidia’s industrial platform, Lucid will digitally model production lines before physically installing them. This “digital twin” approach will optimize the paths of the robotic arms, increase safety, and reduce the time it takes to commission production lines.
The Lucid-Nvidia collaboration stands out as a significant step in bringing autonomous driving technologies to the end user. So, do you think Level 4 autonomous vehicles will become widespread in the near future?
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