Engineering Explained. This is bad.

[Halodde]

This guy had a glowing review of Lucid 3 months ago. I have friends that were considering buying one based on his previous review.

I think he referenced this in the early part of the video. He said owning it was very different than reviewing it. He didn't experience a lot of/most of the issues when he reviewed it.

This is similar to what I thought and someone here said about the Air being 'tested' in cold climates and winter weather vs someone living with it in those conditions. Charge port being completely exposed to snow and ice build up during outdoor winter charging and weak rear defrost comes to mind as I've dealt with those exact issues in the past 24 hours

 

[azguy]

I've not experienced these things but Jason having this many issues is very, very bad.
Lucid needs to do something!

What baffles me is the range of good/bad experiences with the cars. My car (2023 AGT) has been well behaved. I've seen a few glitches, but nothing like what he's reporting in his video. And I'm sure what he is saying is right. But software is software, and the cars are running the same versions (albeit on some different hardware) so it's hard to explain the variances. Coming from 3 Teslas, I had plenty of bugs and reboots, but generally, over time their software has gotten excellent and reliable.

Even tho many of us are satisfied with our cars, at least an equal amount are unhappy with the software and it's reliability. This should be a 3 alarm fire for Lucid, because word of mouth can make or break a product. It would be nice to get a statement from Lucid management about what their plan is and it should have some solid bullet points. Not vague sentiments. The word 'robust' should never appear.

 

[tarator]

I think he referenced this in the early part of the video. He said owning it was very different than reviewing it. He didn't experience a lot of/most of the issues when he reviewed it.

This is similar to what I thought and someone here said about the Air being 'tested' in cold climates and winter weather vs someone living with it in those conditions. Charge port being completely exposed to snow and ice build up during outdoor winter charging and weak rear defrost comes to mind as I've dealt with those exact issues in the past 24 hours

I very rarely watch videos, so I didn't watch the latest one. But I watched the previous one when my friend sent it to me and it was a very nice and very positive.

 

[hmp10]

I just forced myself to sit through this whole video.

1. This is one of my favorite YouTube channels.

2. I desperately want Lucid to succeed.

3. I cannot disagree with anything Fenske said, as at one time or another I have had almost every issue he's seen with either our Air or our two Gravities.

The channel has over 4 million subscribers. The video topped 6,000 views in the first two hours. It accumulated almost 2,000 comments in that same two hours.

Damn it all, Lucid. Get your software in hand while you still can, even if it means you have to stop development of the Earth. You're entering a suicide spiral if you don't.

 

[hmp10]

But software is software, and the cars are running the same versions (albeit on some different hardware) so it's hard to explain the variances.

Tell me about it. We've had two Gravities, both on identical software. The array of software glitches they have -- and how different those glitches are between the two cars -- is absolutely baffling.

One of the Gravities got totaled in a wreck last weekend, and we have a third one on order that has been built almost exactly six months after the first one. All Dream editions, identical software. It will be interesting to see how it behaves compared to the other two.

 

[marsarbu]

Damn it all, Lucid. Get your software in hand while you still can, even if it means you have to stop development of the Earth. You're entering a suicide spiral if you don't.

I think they've made a calculated decision to sell as much as possible, even if the software quality is poor. It's a Hail Mary to stay in business and hit their targets. What's better? Take the time to improve the software significantly and risk going out of business, or sell bugged cars and take a chance that enough people will still be happy enough to keep buying, until you fix your problems?

 

[socktucker]

I think they've made a calculated decision to sell as much as possible,

"minimum viable product"

 

[lsbuffs]

I found the focus on user profiles to be excessive, and the cupholder segment was frankly ridiculous. In the three years I've had my Touring, I haven't experienced many of the issues mentioned in this video.

That said, the core problem is undeniably the software. I deal with some quirk or glitch nearly every drive, and while I've mostly learned to live with it, I'm reaching a point where I'm not sure I can continue. I don't know if this stems from a lack of focus on software development or if they just don't have enough of the right people doing that work, but something needs to change, and change soon.

A great start would be a public software development roadmap. It doesn't need to be super detailed with specific dates, but it would give owners some hope that there is a concrete plan to right the software ship. And for God's sake, please stop with the cryptic "robustness" software release notes! Give us some hint as to what these increasingly infrequent updates are actually providing.

Hopefully, between videos like this and some of the other car reviewer complaints regarding the Gravity issues, Lucid will finally get the hint and put a massive, increased focus on software development, even if it's at the expense of some other initiatives. It's such a fun car to drive—that's the first thing I tell people when they ask me about it. But then I have to be honest and tell them that the software is simply not ready for prime time.

 

[marsarbu]

"minimum viable product"

MVP means a functional, basic product. They chose to build a poorly functional, complex product.

 

[socktucker]

MVP means a functional, basic product. They chose to build a poorly functional, complex product.

Are you suggesting they….compromised…?? lol

 

[Halodde]

IIRC, during earlier production times, they had to source parts from multiple sources. I think that could contribute to the same software behaving differently in different vehicles. But his is a 2025. So that's not an explanation for his build.

And, cross referencing a different post getting a lot of attention, different hardware could explain why some of us are experiencing a change in regen while others of us are not, correct?

 

[hmp10]

I found the focus on user profiles to be excessive . . . .

I would have said the same thing until my profile got corrupted in one of the Gravities this week, causing access to the audio system to disappear when in my profile. And I can't even figure out how to delete the corrupted profile.

In fact, I was about to post on the forum to find out if anyone could tell me how when I came across this thread.

A malfunctioning profile feature is as annoying as hell.

 

[socktucker]

I found the focus on user profiles to be excessive, and the cupholder segment was frankly ridiculous. In the three years I've had my Touring, I haven't experienced many of the issues mentioned in this video.

That said, the core problem is undeniably the software. I deal with some quirk or glitch nearly every drive, and while I've mostly learned to live with it, I'm reaching a point where I'm not sure I can continue. I don't know if this stems from a lack of focus on software development or if they just don't have enough of the right people doing that work, but something needs to change, and change soon.

A great start would be a public software development roadmap. It doesn't need to be super detailed with specific dates, but it would give owners some hope that there is a concrete plan to right the software ship. And for God's sake, please stop with the cryptic "robustness" software release notes! Give us some hint as to what these increasingly infrequent updates are actually providing.

Hopefully, between videos like this and some of the other car reviewer complaints regarding the Gravity issues, Lucid will finally get the hint and put a massive, increased focus on software development, even if it's at the expense of some other initiatives. It's such a fun car to drive—that's the first thing I tell people when they ask me about it. But then I have to be honest and tell them that the software is simply not ready for prime time.

The car gets an unusual amount of attention for sure. Unfortunately for me the last few weeks it meant people asking me “what happened to your Lucid?”

 

[hmp10]

I think they've made a calculated decision to sell as much as possible, even if the software quality is poor. It's a Hail Mary to stay in business and hit their targets.

Lucid recently debuted what I think is unquestionably the best-engineered and best-designed people/cargo hauler on the market.

It didn't even make it to the finalist list for SUV of the Year . . . almost certainly because of the software issues.

This is not a formula for staying in business, especially if they're about to do the same thing with their coming mass-market product.

 

[DrZorro]

They honestly need to reach out for 3rd party l external help from a company like Google, Microsoft, or Apple to help them. I understand they are stoic and want to do everything in-house... But they need to know their limits.

 

[gaskiller]

If you want to make autonomous vehicles, better with a full software suite. And software means you can update and add new functionality. This is the right approach for a future proof model. No need to redesign hardware every model refresh.

The real issue is that the percentage of a car that’s “just software” is growing exponentially. In my memory we went from no software to software in the ECU to software in the nav system to apple car play to software driving the car. A company in this space that can’t get software right is toast. Unclear what’s broken at Lucid for this to be reality four years after release, but something’s not right, and frankly this was the number one reason I didn’t take delivery of a Gravity.

If you want to make autonomous vehicles, better with a full software suite. And software means you can update and add new functionality. This is the right approach for a future proof model. No need to redesign hardware every model refresh.

 

[gaskiller]

I couldn't get through the vid. Sorry but the whining about minor stuff got to me. You have to push the charging door firmly to get it to open? Tragic! The cup holders hang on too tightly? Horrific! (Admittedly I have a low tolerance for complaining.)

I know some of you have significant problems with the car, and I feel badly for you. But to say that everyone has this problems isn't close to being accurate.

Like I said, some people aren't bothered by anything, and others are bothered by everything.

Agree, Air software greatly improved and I now recommend it to friends. But they should not have these issues with the Gravity.

 

[MGRMLN]

This dude has 4.16M subscribers. When someone like this gives you thumbs down, you will feel it. If Lucid cannot see the trend here, they need a visit to the optometrist, asap.

He was also initially very excited about taking delivery. It just absolutely SUCKS his car had this many issues.
Also, I cannot believe Lucid service didn't identify who he was and get his car completely gone over.

I think back at the start, they hired the wrong software engineer from Apple and he likely brought the typical arrogance regarding the Physical/Software along with him. This clearly blew up in his face and he was eventually replaced. I want Lucid to succeed! It's such a great car on so many fronts and even though it's been getting progressively better, the software experience has just not up to snuff from the very beginning.

 

[gaskiller]

They need some *young* ambitious and talented people to take the metaphorical wheel in the software division. Honestly, they probably only need a few people... But the right people. They also likely need to have one unified stack for all their vehicles going forward. They can't afford to start at software beta version 0.9 with the launch of the midsize and reinvent the wheel again.

Agree, you need one stack for all vehicles. They should have stuck with AIR software and made that more rock solid instead going all fancy with the Gravity.

 

[Halodde]

He was also initially very excited about taking delivery. It just absolutely SUCKS his car had this many issues.

It sucks... And it doesn't. It sucks for him and those of us who have had these issues. But it squarely shines a light on the desperate need for improvement if the company is going to improve and survive. I applaud him for broadly calling out lucid to force them to fix things.