Lucid Motors unveils ‘Lunar’ robotaxi concept for autonomous ride services

Lucid Motors has revealed a robotaxi concept vehicle called the “Lucid Lunar,” presenting it during the company’s investor day event on Thursday in New York City.

The concept is a two-seat vehicle with no steering wheel and no pedals, and Lucid said it is intended to be built on the same core platform the automaker is developing for its upcoming mid-size family of electric vehicles.

Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff said Lucid was already “working on” Lunar and that the concept would arrive after the company launches its mid-size vehicles. However, Lucid later clarified that there is no active development underway on the dedicated robotaxi itself.

Lucid Motors also said Thursday that it is close to reaching an agreement with Uber to collaborate on a robotaxi based on one of the mid-size vehicles it is currently developing. Lucid is already partnering with autonomous vehicle company Nuro to create a self-driving version of the Gravity SUV, which is expected to launch on Uber’s network in the San Francisco area by the end of this year. Neither Lucid nor Nuro would confirm whether that newly discussed vehicle will use Nuro’s technology.

Although these announcements came near the end of Lucid’s investor day presentation, they highlighted how increasingly focused the company is on building an autonomy-related business that could add to its electric vehicle sales. At one point during the event, Lucid showed a bar chart indicating that it expects revenue from robotaxi partnerships to eventually far surpass the money it earns from licensing its EV technology. However, the chart did not include a label on the Y-axis.

Lucid is also looking for ways to monetise its partial-autonomy offerings. The company said it plans to introduce monthly subscriptions for DreamDrive Pro beginning in the first half of 2027, with pricing that increases as the capability level rises. Owners will be able to pay $69 per month for the lowest level of driver assistance, or up to $199 per month for self-driving capability that does not require the driver to take over at any point. Lucid has not yet developed that more advanced capability, and it is worth noting that no other automaker has achieved it either.

A slide shared during Thursday’s presentation described autonomy subscriptions as “the single biggest software monetisation opportunity.” That mirrors a strategy Tesla has pursued for some time with its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software, and it is also similar to the approach Rivian outlined during its own “Autonomy & AI Day” in late December.

Like Rivian, Lucid Motors is also developing its own in-cabin AI assistant. The company wants the assistant to handle simple functions like raising or lowering the air conditioning, as well as more complex requests such as finding “something to do that’s a little unique, maybe off the beaten path, and maybe has kind of a maritime or nautical vibe.” It remains unclear how polished the feature is at this stage. Lucid attempted to demonstrate the assistant live during the event, but the demo did not work, and the company instead played a pre-recorded video.

The rest of Lucid’s investor day focused heavily on the company’s efforts to lower the cost of building its vehicles, as well as its attempts to continue improving the efficiency of its electric drivetrain. Both of those areas will be essential if Lucid hopes to make its mid-size vehicles affordable, especially since they are expected to start at around $50,000 when the first one reaches the market by the end of this year. The company also disclosed that one of those vehicles will be called the Lucid Cosmos, while the other will be called Lucid Earth. The name of the third model was not announced on Thursday.