- Lucid’s new voice assistant incorporates natural-language interactivity
- SoundHound tech doesn’t rely solely on a mobile connection
- Already obtainable in Air, coming quickly to Gravity
Lucid needs you to have a dialog along with your Air or Gravity electrical car, and it goes far past the requisite wake-up of “Hey Lucid.”
Earlier this month I sat within the passenger seat of an Air, whereas the motive force requested: “My buddy advised that I’m going try the NFL stadium whereas I am in Vegas; what’s it known as?”
An artificial voice replied inside a fraction of a second: “The NFL Stadium in Vegas is named the Allegiant stadium. It is tremendous cool.”
“Navigate there,” mentioned my seatmate.
The voice ultimately confirmed, “Navigating to Allegiant stadium. Comply with the highway.”
Lucid Assistant powered by SoundHound (demo)
The one within the driver’s seat strolling me by way of Lucid Assistant voice interactivity was Kyle Halstvedt, the technical program supervisor at SoundHound who helped coordinate this fully new voice assistant for Lucid EVs.
With SoundHound’s voice-and-AI-focused staff based mostly in Santa Clara, California, close to Lucid’s Newark headquarters, the businesses labored carefully on the undertaking. Halstvedt aimed to point out me that each voice question now has plenty of flexibility, and the voice performance is now absolutely in tune with Lucid’s wants—like the necessity to discover the quickest chargers alongside the best way, plan the EV’s route, and precondition its battery to arrange for them.
2022 Lucid Air fast-charging in Garberville, CA
Right here it’s particularly vital that this performance navigates the nuance—as a result of in a Lucid it may be the distinction between one of many quickest EV charging experiences on this planet versus one which’s simply par.
“That was a enjoyable facet of this undertaking, that they need to drive issues by way of their very own navigation system,” Halstvedt mentioned. “We’re not simply utilizing a separate knowledge supplier; we’re deeply built-in with their navigation system, and that needed to occur.”
Halstvedt famous that’s one thing SoundHound has expertise doing earlier than, and it’s one thing that Lucid had a selected requirement surrounding the undertaking and the mixing. “They appreciated the flexibleness of our technical staff to construct the expertise they’re on the lookout for, one thing that takes a little bit of creativity on the technical facet,” he mentioned.
Lucid UX 2.4 replace
Far more flexibility, higher than Alexa
The Lucid Assistant was rolled out beginning in September, changing Alexa as a part of Lucid’s UX 2.4 software program replace. In line with Lucid, all Air fashions in North America and the Center East now have entry to it. Early Gravity fashions don’t but have the Lucid Assistant, however they are going to quickly, the automaker instructed Inexperienced Automotive Stories.
The brand new assistant, already configurable in six languages, will now higher handle navigation and audio, local weather management options, or heated seats—all fundamentals that house owners beforehand discovered difficult. However that’s simply the beginning.
Lucid made a strategic selection about the place it wished its core competency, and voice is on the middle of it, Lucid Motors head of person expertise Dave Flint defined to Inexperienced Automotive Stories in November, when that system was nonetheless rolling out in Air. “It’s not simply, I’m ordering the automotive round; it’s like, how does the automotive start to speak with me by way of voice?”
“That basically wasn’t doable with our outdated system,” Flint bluntly summed.
Alexa wasn’t working for Lucid, and Lucid didn’t mince phrases about it—though there have been possible loads of drivers’ phrases minced. The California EV maker introduced again in 2020 that it might make use of an superior model of Amazon Alexa to entry an intensive array of car features starting from small changes to discovering charging stations, in addition to faucet into good residence controls. However what house owners had been discovering out in the actual world was that such instructions throughout the car depended an excessive amount of on a powerful knowledge connection; account permissions and different components may get in the best way; and finally Lucid didn’t have plenty of management over how easily all of it labored in the actual world.
2025 Lucid Air Pure
Context is every part to new Lucid Assistant
“What we have to do job, on the pure language instructions, is surrounding context—whether or not that’s the historical past of the dialog, information concerning the pure world, or the place, the place the person is,” Halstvedt mentioned.
Shoppers anticipate to have the ability to have an prolonged dialog a few location or sequence of places, filtering it iteratively, after which they need to have the ability to act on it based mostly on the cumulative outcomes, he mentioned. However few new automobiles can really ship that even in excellent connectivity.
SoundHound hasn’t ignored the uncanny smoothness of AI-based queries and chatbots, nevertheless it understands that far more is required throughout the car—and it must pair a few of these benefits with conventional in-vehicle voice processing.
“When you simply plugged OpenAI’s APIs into your car it might do a extremely good job of speaking nevertheless it wouldn’t do a extremely good job of appearing,” Halstvedt mentioned. “We need to convey collectively these strengths.”
To do this, the voice assistant runs on the truth that it received’t at all times have a mobile connection out on the highway. In what SoundHound calls a native-hybrid mannequin, it streams audio to servers or to a neighborhood embedded engine, balancing that in no matter means is sensible.
“Alongside the voice we’re sending, we’re additionally sending a set of information which we name request information, that represents the entire completely different attributes, like location, time zone, and extra,” Halstvedt mentioned. “That’s a key facet of answering these questions.”
2025 Lucid Air Grand Touring
2025 Lucid Air Pure
2025 Lucid Air Pure
Fewer “AI hallucinations,” connectivity non-compulsory
The method additionally lowers the possibilities of so-called “AI hallucinations,” in accordance with SoundHound—startling or tangential responses that seemingly don’t have anything to do with what was requested.
Whereas it may possibly seamlessly help these sophisticated pure dialog queries, it may possibly, as Halstvedt put it, “Work decently properly and not using a connection,” and supply a point of the identical expertise.
For instance of one thing that should seize the nuance however doesn’t require a connection, he mentioned, “It’s just a little sizzling in right here.”
“Reducing temperature by two levels Fahrenheit,” the voice replied.
“If now we have cloud connectivity we will improve these outcomes with higher outcomes from the cloud and actually combine in numerous voice generative AI options with out having to be actually expensive from a computing standpoint,” Halstvedt added.
However in Lucid’s new method, it’s additionally drawing from round 20 years of SoundHound’s work in understanding natural-language instructions with out entry to the large-language mannequin constructed into generative AI.
Lucid Air Touring steering wheel controls
Lucid’s voice assistant is aware of the proprietor’s handbook
Versus the earlier voice instructions, SoundHound brings in new options, together with what it calls car intelligence—which means “related and official details about the entire options the car helps, like the place issues are and what the buttons do,” it defined in a current press launch on the characteristic set.
SoundHound has labored with different automakers, nevertheless it factors to Lucid’s car intelligence questions as the place this integration covers new floor in pure language and AI. The entire proprietor’s handbook is obtainable through voice, and the system can sift by way of it based mostly in your questions—even when you possibly can solely describe icons, symbols, or warning lights.
“We utilized some pc imaginative and prescient strategies to permit symbols to be described from the car handbook… to make information concerning the automotive much more accessible on the occasions a person would possibly have to entry it,” Halstvedt mentioned.
2025 Lucid Gravity Grand Touring
Voice controls within the 2025 Lucid Gravity
The hybrid mannequin has additionally made the voice system simple for Lucid to adapt and customise because the Air and Gravity evolve and differ amongst trim ranges. The groups overseeing performance can change the best way one thing works through the cloud nearly immediately, with the native/native backup modified quickly after through an replace.
“We’re investing closely in voice; it’s going to be a strategically vital UX for us, with plenty of implications round what it means for natural-language interplay and natural-language engagement from the automotive,” Flint mentioned.
2025 Lucid Gravity Grand Touring
2025 Lucid Gravity Grand Touring
2025 Lucid Gravity Grand Touring
Certainly, in its 2025 Lucid Gravity SUV, which has a revamped interface, the automaker is providing a digital detox mode that goes with minimalist shows, and there’s a set of mood-and-ambience modes known as Vibes. As Flint hinted, be ready for voice controls to proceed to take middle stage there and past.
And amongst all of at present’s AI hallucinations, observing that digital detox in voice kind too would possibly assist drivers merely keep centered on what issues.
