- Lucid’s new voice assistant incorporates natural-language interactivity
- SoundHound tech doesn’t rely completely on a mobile connection
- Already out there in Air, coming quickly to Gravity
Lucid desires you to have a dialog together with your Air or Gravity electrical automobile, 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 pal instructed that I am going take a look at the NFL stadium whereas I am in Vegas; what’s it referred to 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,” stated my seatmate.
The voice finally confirmed, “Navigating to Allegiant stadium. Observe 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 utterly new voice assistant for Lucid EVs.
With SoundHound’s voice-and-AI-focused group based mostly in Santa Clara, California, close to Lucid’s Newark headquarters, the businesses labored carefully on the challenge. Halstvedt aimed to point out me that each voice question now has a variety of flexibility, and the voice performance is now totally in tune with Lucid’s wants—like the necessity to discover the quickest chargers alongside the way in which, plan the EV’s route, and precondition its battery to organize for them.
2022 Lucid Air fast-charging in Garberville, CA
Right here it’s particularly necessary 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 the earth versus one which’s simply par.
“That was a enjoyable facet of this challenge, that they wish to drive issues by way of their very own navigation system,” Halstvedt stated. “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 challenge and the mixing. “They appreciated the pliability of our technical group to construct the expertise they’re on the lookout for, one thing that takes a little bit of creativity on the technical facet,” he stated.
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 keeping 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 may quickly, the automaker advised Inexperienced Automobile Experiences.
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 homeowners beforehand discovered difficult. However that’s simply the beginning.
Lucid made a strategic selection about the place it needed its core competency, and voice is on the heart of it, Lucid Motors head of consumer expertise Dave Flint defined to Inexperienced Automobile Experiences in December, 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 attainable 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 doubtless loads of drivers’ phrases minced. The California EV maker introduced again in 2020 that it will make use of an superior model of Amazon Alexa to entry an in depth array of car capabilities starting from small changes to discovering charging stations, in addition to faucet into sensible house controls. However what homeowners had been discovering out in the actual world was that such instructions inside the automobile depended an excessive amount of on a powerful knowledge connection; account permissions and different elements might get in the way in which; and finally Lucid didn’t have a variety of management over how easily all of it labored in the actual world.
2025 Lucid Air Pure
Context is every little thing to new Lucid Assistant
“What we have to do a great 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 consumer is,” Halstvedt stated.
Customers count on to have the ability to have an prolonged dialog a couple of location or collection of places, filtering it iteratively, after which they need to have the ability to act on it based mostly on the cumulative outcomes, he stated. However few new automobiles can truly 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 inside the automobile—and it must pair a few of these benefits with conventional in-vehicle voice processing.
“In case you simply plugged OpenAI’s APIs into your automobile it will do a very good job of speaking nevertheless it wouldn’t do a very good job of performing,” Halstvedt stated. “We wish to deliver collectively these strengths.”
To do this, the voice assistant runs on the fact that it gained’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 an area embedded engine, balancing that in no matter method is smart.
“Alongside the voice we’re sending, we’re additionally sending a set of information which we name request information, that represents all the totally different attributes, like location, time zone, and extra,” Halstvedt stated. “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-obligatory
The method additionally lowers the possibilities of so-called “AI hallucinations,” in keeping with SoundHound—startling or tangential responses that seemingly don’t have anything to do with what was requested.
Whereas it will probably seamlessly help these sophisticated pure dialog queries, it will probably, as Halstvedt put it, “Work decently effectively with out a connection,” and supply some extent of the identical expertise.
For instance of one thing that should seize the nuance however doesn’t require a connection, he stated, “It’s somewhat sizzling in right here.”
“Reducing temperature by two levels Fahrenheit,” the voice replied.
“If we now have cloud connectivity we are able to improve these outcomes with higher outcomes from the cloud and actually combine in varied 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 automobile intelligence—that means “related and official details about all the options the automobile helps, like the place issues are and what the buttons do,” it defined in a current press launch on the function set.
SoundHound has labored with different automakers, nevertheless it factors to Lucid’s automobile intelligence questions as the place this integration covers new floor in pure language and AI. The entire proprietor’s handbook is out there through voice, and the system can sift by way of it based mostly in your questions—even when you’ll be able to solely describe icons, symbols, or warning lights.
“We utilized some pc imaginative and prescient methods to permit symbols to be described from the automobile handbook… to make information concerning the automotive much more accessible on the occasions a consumer may must entry it,” Halstvedt stated.
2025 Lucid Gravity Grand Touring
Voice controls within the 2025 Lucid Gravity
The hybrid mannequin has additionally made the voice system straightforward for Lucid to adapt and customise because the Air and Gravity evolve and differ amongst trim ranges. The groups overseeing performance can change the way in which 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 necessary UX for us, with a variety of implications round what it means for natural-language interplay and natural-language engagement from the automotive,” Flint stated.
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 referred to as Vibes. As Flint hinted, be ready for voice controls to proceed to take heart stage there and past.
And amongst all of at present’s AI hallucinations, observing that digital detox in voice type too may assist drivers merely keep centered on what issues.
