After over a year of ownership, I still don't understand the entry/approach software of this car

codys21

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To put it lightly, my wife and I strongly dislike the software for entry/approach to our Air. It just seems to be wrong, or slow, or unnecessarily early far, far too often. We have one other car, an 11 year old BMW, that also has keyless entry. Our prior vehicles had regular, old-fashioned entry where a key was needed so I'll use the BMW as a baseline. In the BMW, there are two keys, each of which is synced to a profile for one of us. We can also access either profile (or a guest profile) from either key and it will immediately change. Like the Lucid, the BMW recognizes which key arrives at the car, and will *immediately* move the driver's seat, adjust volume, climate control, and mirrors so that by the time the driver even sits down, the car is ready to go. There is no lag or long waiting time. Seatbelt, shift, go. Compare this to the Lucid where it seems like the seat is the last thing to move. No, I do not want to enable easy entry-exit, but I quite literally cannot fit in the vehicle if my wife drove it last. So when I open the driver's door, I start manually moving the seat with the buttons on the side because the car takes. so. long. to do it itself. Once I'm seated and the profile is finally loaded, I will go into the seats menu on the pilot panel and restore the seat to get the exact position I want it. So, that's the first problem: the profiles take forever to load and the seat seems like the last thing to load, but should really be the first (and isn't adjustable from the app).

Next is the proximity unlocking of the car. For the BMW, it stays locked until the doorhandle is grabbed, at which point it unlocks *immediately*. Again, there is no wait. Approach a locked car, pull the door handle, and it unlocks (and the seat moves immediately, as stated above). For the Lucid, the proximity always seems to be different on when it decides to unlock. Sometimes it'll unlock while we're in the house or when we're coming back from walking the dogs. Sometimes it won't unlock and we have to open the app and do it manually. On occasion, it actually works as expected while we're just a few feet away and actually approaching the car. I understand this needs to be a little different than the BMW because the Lucid doesn't have grab-able door handles, but the software still seems all wacky. We were actually at a friend's house and our friend asked why our car's lights were on. Turns out, the car decided to unlock itself while we were sitting in our friend's living room. So we opened the app and locked it. Later, it unlocked again. And again. And again. All while we were in the living room. If we were in a sketchy part of town, this would have been a great time for thieves. I simply want the car to unlock when I am actually approaching the car, and do it consistently just before I reach the door.

Next, the car picks the wrong profile all the time. No matter the situation, who arrives first, if we have the keys or just our phones, it's a complete guessing game on which profile the car will load up. If we're running errands, we'll actually often just decide who is driving based on which profile the car decided to load because it's faster and easier for us to look into the car, see the profile, and choose our seats accordingly than it is to change the profile to the person who was planning on driving. Again, this happens even if one of us stays several steps back from the car while the other approaches.

Finally, Bluetooth. I think this sort of fits under this same category, but the car decides to connect to the Bluetooth on one of our phones while we're just chilling in the house. And it does this all the time. I don't want the car to connect to my phone's Bluetooth at all unless I'm actually in the car, let alone 50 ft away in the basement of my house. We can be watching a video on our phone, and all of a sudden, the video will stop because the car has decided to connect to our phone. It's simply ridiculous that this even happens at all.
 
Can’t say I disagree. Entry and profiles are laughably bad. I don’t use the fob because it would literally be the only key I’d carry and I like the idea of using the phone as a key. For those who have had a bad experience with the hardware fob, which seems to be many, I feel that Lucid’s excuse that they have some sort of legal contract that prohibits them from using anything other than the current fob based system is a joke. But mobile key is still poor at best. There is nothing that has soured our experience with this car more than this particular item. It's a shame, because I just love this car otherwise (mostly).
We have a 2025 BMW which uses mobile key via UWB. It has never failed to unlock when approaching (about 10-15 feet away consistently) and always properly picks the profile of the person entering the driver’s side.
It is my understanding that Lucid is using a system in Gravity that is similar to the BMW system so everything should be solved. I’m glad Lucid has learned its lesson.
That said, the fact that they are still selling brand new Airs with the problems that existed in the 2022 model is completely unforgivable.
 
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I was thoroughly confused in my first 2 weeks and I'm a self proclaimed super nerd when it comes to IT. Finally, I decided to turn off passive lock and unlock altogether and tested each to see what I should have on/off. Turns out what makes most sense is not using it and just stick to lock/unlock via keyfob. I did it mostly because I just didn't like the potential security issues with the passive abilities. Having grown up in the nyc public school system I don't trust anyone.
 
I was thoroughly confused in my first 2 weeks and I'm a self proclaimed super nerd when it comes to IT. Finally, I decided to turn off passive lock and unlock altogether and tested each to see what I should have on/off. Turns out what makes most sense is not using it and just stick to lock/unlock via keyfob. I did it mostly because I just didn't like the potential security issues with the passive abilities. Having grown up in the nyc public school system I don't trust anyone.
We just use the fobs too and have turned off mobile keys. They work fine, though the non-driving person must keep their fob in a faraday bag to avoid profile mixups. I usually drive so my wife just keeps hers at home. I suppose we could turn off automatic profile switching too, haven't researched it.
 
We completly with Codys21 but thee is more. I druve most of the time but the Pure seems to prefer my wife to drive. It likes her profile much more. We never know when the car wil unlock. Sometimes it will open when we are 100 feet away or anywhere in between then sometimes we have to go up to the car & grab the door handle. a couple times I had to pull out the backup card & place next to the door post. We like to listen to audio books. We never know how to access the books. Occasionally the book comes on the car's speakers when we approach, sometimes when we enter, sometimes we have to turn it on manually, other times we can't turn it on the car at all. Sometimes the car will not allow the iphone (The source of the books) to come on at all & sometimes we have to listen on the iphone because nothing else will work. It is a complete surprise every time we enter the car. We keep hoping an OTA will solve these many issues but not so far. We were looking forward to migrating from our 2023 Pure to a Gravity eventually but we are beginning to loose our interest.
 
...We were looking forward to migrating from our 2023 Pure to a Gravity eventually but we are beginning to loose our interest.
Reevaluate when it is closer to the time you'd consider a Gravity. Lucid is hard at work on improving the software.
 
Can’t say I disagree. Entry and profiles are laughably bad. Lucid’s excuse that they have some sort of legal contract that prohibits them from using anything other than the current Bluetooth based system is a joke. There is nothing that has soured our experience with this car more than this particular item.
We have a 2025 BMW which uses UWB. It has never failed to unlock when approaching (about 10-15 feet away consistently) and always properly picks the profile of the person entering the driver’s side.
It is my understanding that Lucid is using a system in Gravity that is similar to the BMW system so everything should be solved. I’m glad Lucid has learned its lesson.
That said, the fact that they are still selling brand new Airs with the problems that existed in the 2022 model is completely unforgivable.
Bobby, which 2025 BMW do you have?
 
Can’t say I disagree. Entry and profiles are laughably bad. Lucid’s excuse that they have some sort of legal contract that prohibits them from using anything other than the current Bluetooth based system is a joke. There is nothing that has soured our experience with this car more than this particular item.
We have a 2025 BMW which uses UWB. It has never failed to unlock when approaching (about 10-15 feet away consistently) and always properly picks the profile of the person entering the driver’s side.
It is my understanding that Lucid is using a system in Gravity that is similar to the BMW system so everything should be solved. I’m glad Lucid has learned its lesson.
That said, the fact that they are still selling brand new Airs with the problems that existed in the 2022 model is completely unforgivable.
Do you by chance happen to know if this is a permanent contract or will it eventually expire? This is literally the most annoying pain point of the car. I really wish there was an aftermarket device that uses UWB to act as an adapter to the current keyless entry. Alas, I'm only a meager software engineer. :'(
 
Do you by chance happen to know if this is a permanent contract or will it eventually expire? This is literally the most annoying pain point of the car. I really wish there was an aftermarket device that uses UWB to act as an adapter to the current keyless entry. Alas, I'm only a meager software engineer. :'(
No, they have not released that info.
 
Can’t say I disagree. Entry and profiles are laughably bad. Lucid’s excuse that they have some sort of legal contract that prohibits them from using anything other than the current Bluetooth based system is a joke. There is nothing that has soured our experience with this car more than this particular item. It's a shame, because I just love this car otherwise (mostly).
We have a 2025 BMW which uses UWB. It has never failed to unlock when approaching (about 10-15 feet away consistently) and always properly picks the profile of the person entering the driver’s side.
It is my understanding that Lucid is using a system in Gravity that is similar to the BMW system so everything should be solved. I’m glad Lucid has learned its lesson.
That said, the fact that they are still selling brand new Airs with the problems that existed in the 2022 model is completely unforgivable.
Thank you for this honesty.
 
Wholly agree, the key situation is one of my major issues with the car. Bluetooth is just not up to the task. I can't imagine a normal, non-enthusiast type person putting up with this.
 
I did a about a 2 hour test loop, I think I have figured out how to fix the profile switching slowness. But I almost exclusively use phone app/mobile key to use the car. My wife's profile is set to primary. I disconnected all the mobile keys, re-added only mine to my profile, and then waited for the car to go to sleep. Came back with wife's phone, re-linked only her phone to her profile. I tested this and it now recognizes the phone quickly when you walk up and the seats are moved into the correct location. I set my profile to use easy entry with only the seat moving.

Before I had an extra key loaded in a different area (or it was due to some software change from older version), and then both keys linked to both profiles.
 
The OP describes our (frustrating) experience with opening and interacting with our Air perfectly. I'm trying to be charitable because I knew what I signed up for, but maybe some resources from the department of bass futzing and curb rash preventing can go towards correcting the fundamental interface. Every update that comes out and completely ignores this reality further alienates me from the brand, and more importantly, from being a brand ambassador.
 
The OP describes our (frustrating) experience with opening and interacting with our Air perfectly. I'm trying to be charitable because I knew what I signed up for, but maybe some resources from the department of bass futzing and curb rash preventing can go towards correcting the fundamental interface. Every update that comes out and completely ignores this reality further alienates me from the brand, and more importantly, from being a brand ambassador.
Yes, this. Seems like some of the improvements/updates are on things that many would deem less important. Not everybody, of course, but many.
 
The OP describes our (frustrating) experience with opening and interacting with our Air perfectly. I'm trying to be charitable because I knew what I signed up for, but maybe some resources from the department of bass futzing and curb rash preventing can go towards correcting the fundamental interface. Every update that comes out and completely ignores this reality further alienates me from the brand, and more importantly, from being a brand ambassador.
Lucid is keenly aware of the Air's unlocking issues. Nearly every single review, and many owners, mention it. It's persisted for three years. I can only imagine that for some reason it is very difficult to correct - IMO it would have been advisable to spend up to maybe $10M (one time) to get it done by whatever means necessary.
 
Lucid is keenly aware of the Air's unlocking issues. Nearly every single review, and many owners, mention it. It's persisted for three years. I can only imagine that for some reason it is very difficult to correct - IMO it would have been advisable to spend up to maybe $10M (one time) to get it done by whatever means necessary.
Good point. The type of Bluetooth that Bobby mentions is apparently part of the issue? Another could just be the flat door handles needing to pop out to be used. Not sure how other EVs are with consistency for this, but I'd easily be willing to give up a few miles of overall range for the car to open like my BMW (or likely any other keyless entry vehicle).
 
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