The Lucid Gravity Almost Got Tesla’s Most Controversial Design Option

Tesla followers are divided by the automaker’s controversial steering “yoke,” which swaps out the standard wheel for a rectangle that’s extra akin to what you’d discover in an airplane’s cockpit or a Components One race automotive. Some consumers see it as but another stroke of genius from Elon Musk. Others think it makes driving more cumbersome with little upside.  

Up-and-coming Tesla rival Lucid Motors, for its half, isn’t satisfied. The California-based EV startup thought of including a yoke to its upcoming Gravity SUV however had too many considerations about operability, Derek Jenkins, the agency’s Senior Vice President of Design and Model, informed me at an occasion previewing the brand new mannequin earlier this month.  

“We simply felt it was a compromise we weren’t keen to make,” he mentioned.  

Unveiled at November’s Los Angeles Auto Present, the Gravity is a futuristic, three-row family-hauler with a formidable projected vary of 440-plus miles. It should begin at below $80,000 and go on sale in late 2024. Lucid’s second mannequin after the Air sedan, the Gravity will give the fledgling startup a foothold within the enormous and profitable US SUV market. And Lucid decided that market isn’t able to embrace the yoke.

After contemplating some 30 steering-wheel shapes, Lucid landed on what Jenkins described as a “squircle.” The bizarre design provides drivers an unobstructed view of the sprawling display screen located simply behind the Gravity’s steering wheel — that was Lucid’s essential objective right here — with out overcomplicating the driving expertise. In most vehicles, like Lucid’s Air, the steering wheel blocks at the least a part of no matter show or gauges lie behind it. 

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“After all the yoke does obtain the clear viewability, however then the drivability suffers, and we weren’t going to present that up,” Jenkins mentioned. “If I wish to again up and never have a look at the wheel, you may’t try this with a yoke. It simply doesn’t work.” 

Certainly, Tesla house owners and reviewers have lengthy griped {that a} yoke doesn’t enable them to change up their grip and that there’s a steep studying curve to doing something in addition to going straight. One explicit gripe is that Tesla’s yoke doesn’t have a steering ratio that varies relying on speeds, making it troublesome to function in parking heaps and garages. When making a three-point flip, for instance, it’s a lot easier to spin a wheel this fashion and that than a yoke. This ratio challenge is one thing that automakers like Toyota are doing differently as they dip into new kinds of steering controls.

In the meantime, Tesla’s yoke desires is probably not going nicely; the automaker launched the yoke as commonplace gear for 2 of its autos in 2021 however later made it a $1,000 option, maybe relenting to the flood of complaints.  

The Gravity’s squircular steerer additionally permits drivers to extra comfortably attain the 34-inch show behind it, which is necessary as a result of it’s a full touchscreen, mentioned Eric Bach, Lucid’s Chief Engineer. New electrical vehicles sometimes ditch analog gauges for sleeker, digital setups. However a touchscreen instantly behind the steering wheel is very uncommon, and we don’t but know what sorts of capabilities Lucid is cooking up.