Lucid beats Tesla, Rivian Starts Deliveries …
Business Drive’s Weekly Picks of Mobility Stuff You Need to Know
1. Lucid Motors First Past the 500-Mile Post
It takes a special kind of chutzpah to stick it to Elon Musk. Looks like Lucid is up to the task.
Last week, the California-based electric vehicle (EV) company’s Air Dream Edition became the longest range battery car in the industry, beating out long-standing winner — the Tesla Model S Long Range Plus.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has now backed Lucid’s claim of a 520-mile range with its official rating.
It shouldn’t be surprising that the company that ultimately bests Tesla, and sets a new industry benchmark, is not a Volkswagen or a GM, but one that is founded and run by former Tesla executives.
For Musk, that might sting a bit. (Or is he proud?)
But wait … there’s a catch.
Lucid’s 100-mile range advantage comes at a cost. A big one.
The Air Dream Edition, expected to roll out later this year, is priced at $169,000 USD — almost double than what you’d pay for the Model S Long Range Plus.
So don’t expect Lucid to take a bite out of Tesla sales any time soon.
2. Rivian Gets Rolling
Following production setbacks and delays (largely caused by the chip shortage), Rivian delivered its first production R1T from its Illinois factory floor last week.
It will be interesting to see how Rivian will perform against the Ford F-150 Lightning EV when the latter comes out. But, for now, the R1T is the EV truck king.
Great timing too! Rivian is headed into an IPO in a couple of months and the customer deliveries will surely help the company hit its gallingly ambitious $80 billion valuation target.
The Amazon-backed startup is gradually revealing the perks of being a Rivian owner. Customers will have free charging access, LTE connectivity through the Rivian Membership program, which will be complimentary initially. The company hasn't specific details about the length of the trial period.
Rivian will also go off the beaten path for its customers (literally) through its Adventure Extraction offering. The program will work like an enhanced roadside assistance, where Rivian will offer complete support for drivers stuck in remote or off-road locations.
3. Now a Good Driving Record Gets You More than Insurance Breaks
Tesla has announced, or rather Elon Musk has tweeted, that its new beta version of its Full-Self Driving (FSD) feature will be only available to customers who are good drivers.
The current beta FSD brings more automation, particularly on city streets, but still requires full driver attention — and in some cases, intervention. Given all the recent controversy and regulatory probing around Tesla’s Autopilot function, the company’s trepidation is understandable.
This is what Musk said about getting access to the beta:
“Beta button will request permission to assess driving behavior using Tesla insurance calculator. If driving behavior is good for 7 days, beta access will be granted.”
Tesla’s move opens doors to how real-time driving data could be used in future. So far, driving patterns gleaned directly from cars have been applied to insurance breaks — particularly through opt-in, dongle-driven programs from insurance companies.
As more and more automakers introduce upgradeable automation or other features in their cars, driving data could be used as a way to parse out customers and offer more targeted functions.
For instance, self-driving modules may be locked, depending on who’s behind the wheel. Daddy and mommy get to go FSD, but no dice for sweet-sixteen-with-fresh-driver’s-license.
4. Hello, How May I Drive Your Car Today?
By now it’s well understood that fully automated driving — or what is known as Level 5 autonomy in technical terms — won’t be with us for a while. Heck, we haven’t even perfected Level 2.
Vay, a Germany-based startup, is aiming to bridge that gap through teledrivers.
The Berlin-based, pre-seed company’s technology will use remote drivers to control cars. Operators will be fitted with a vehicle-like setup, including monitors for various car-level views, at fixed-locations and they will navigate connected cars using advanced software.
The company’s ultimate goal is to launch a mashup of a ride-hailing / carsharing / car rental service. The teledrivers will be primarily used to get the car to the customer (in the absence of full autonomy). The customer will drive around the car, and once he or she is done, the teledrivers will take over again and drive it around to the next customer.
Interesting concept, but what’s the business case?
It doesn’t add much value to ride-hailing. One still has to pay an operator — remote or in-car. The customer doesn’t care how the cars turn up and hence won’t be willing to pay any premium for the service.
It might have some appeal in carsharing and rentals. Companies may be able to charge extra for a valet service but it can’t be too high. Users might prefer to pick up the car themselves if the additional cost in prohibitive.
Then there are the regulatory and technical challenges. How do you insure a remote driver? What if a crash happens because of latency? Who is responsible — Vay or the network provider?
I’d love to hear more from Vay on how they intend to address these roadblocks.
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