Android phone users: what would it take to make you basically satisfied with the Air's software?

[alancath]

So people want video games. ... driving an actual car is not so important.
Pixel 8 here. (retired chemist = not adverse to science / technology )

I have garage door opener on my sun visor because it's a mechanical switch that always works first time,
and I know where it is without taking my eyes off the road.

there is no "close the door" software feature in the Lucid that I can access.
(I gave up after each attempt requires 7 or more "presses" just to get to the menu ).

Anytime I can avoid software or digital I take it.

Something about my body will not make digital switches work....I press, press harder, press lightly, wet my fingertip, press longer, press shorter, press faster or slower, press multiple times, pound on the screen with my fists.
Nothing. How do you folk make touch screens work?

What exactly is the nature of touch-screen digital switches? How do they work? Do the "sense the Aura" of the user?

If I dug up a grave and got a hand or finger, would that make touch-screens work for me?

Completely serious. I can't even make a digital ATM work. I only go to the ones with mechanical buttons.

LOL dead man's finger LOL.

Pixel 8 Pro here, and a history of problems with fingerprint sensors on both Apple and Google products. And I do get some misses in the Lucid - especially on the Glass Cockpit (not so much on the Pilot Panel). You have to have a pretty accurate placement, which is sometimes difficult due to approach angle and parallax, and no jiggle when making the touch. If your finger jiggles, all bets are off.

The industry trend away toward touch screens and away physical switches (just like with cell phones) has been broadly panned by the motoring press, but it's still trending up and is not likely to reverse - I'm pretty sure it saves a lot - a lot - of money. With discipline I've achieved mastery of most Lucid touch controls, although I really miss physical mirror controls on the door (especially the move-mirror-down when in reverse control). And I feel strongly that the few physical switches the Air has feel cheap, sloppy, give poor tactile feedback and delayed response - they are certainly not in the league of physical switches in any/all German cars.

After 6 weeks of struggling (and occastionally unwhittingly driving away with my garage doors going back up) I mastered Homelink - Lucid must be in park while closing the garage doors or they'll reverse. This is caused by Lucid's Lidar which Genie's safety sensors interpret as motion. There is actually no need to shield the sensors as others have done - just put the car in Park since no Lidar is transmitted in Park. But the pop-down Homelink menu absolutely is hard to use - you have to position your hand and finger exactly right or you'll make a wrong choice. Also, the pop-down pops down and then goes back up before I get a chance to use it, so it's easy to miss your chance.

All that said, now that I've got control of it, I would rather use Homelink than have a transmitter on my visor.

Do let us know if a dead man's finger helps - it won't surprise me.

 

[DeaneG]

...All that said, now that I've got control of it, I would rather use Homelink than have a transmitter on my visor....

It's also possible to add a Konnected GDO White to your Genie and allow Alexa access to it (with a voice PIN to open, none to close). Then you can close your garage door with a voice command as you are backing out and have turned the car away from your garage sensors. And ask Alexa if the door is closed later on in case you've forgotten. Voice command is a little easier than switching the car to park and trying to hit that little rectangle twice on the touch screen while remaining mindful of what's going on around you.

 

[alancath]

What's actually missing - more than just Android Auto - is access to the Android Automotive/ Google Play Store, which is - if not the whole point of a car built on Android Automotive - a very important and major benefit of Android Automotive. If we had that, we might just download Android Auto, along with many other apps specifically built for Android Automotive (the Google Play Store and the Google Play Android Automotive Store are not the same stores). This is a significant feature omission on Lucid's part, likely because they would have to pay Google to license access to it in the vehicle.

That said, Polelstar is another EV built on Android Automotive - I drove a 2024 Polestar 3 extensively just last week - and it indeed has full access to the Android Automotive/ Google Play Store (along with - IMO - a far cleaner and more intuitive infotainment UI, a better sound system with multiband EQ, and significanly deeper EV analytics. That said, it only has wired Carplay (not wireless) and it didn't immediately find my Pixel 8 Pro (e.g., it does not appear to have Android Auto by default).

There are many other brands building on the Android Automotive platform (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Automotive). I don't know if they support both CarPlay and Android Auto and have full access to Android Automotive/ Google Play Store, but they certainly should. I'd be interested to hear whatever others might know about this.

Apple's next CarPlay is target will be Android Automotive-like (e.g., the entire car can run on it.) All of this makes more sense than carmakers continuing to uniquely buiild their own whole-car software from the ground-up.

Disturbingly, at the last Lucid store Cars & Coffee another Lucid owner told me he heard that Lucid will never have Android Auto because Android Auto and Android Automotive are not compatible with each other - and with what I've learned from Googlers about silo'd team issues there, this seems possible. I've heard the recent rumors about AA coming to Air soon - I'll believe that when I see it actually working in my car, and not screwing up or missing fundamental features like Lucid's transponderless, feature-weak implementation of Sirius/XM.

Android Auto is a glaring feature set omission, as is the Android Automotive Google Play Store.

P.S. I still love my car - it's just that was basically born yesterday rather than 100+ years ago like most other brands we all compare it to.

iPhone vs Android Global Market Share (source: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/iphone-android-users)

Year	iOS	Android
2021	27.34%	71.89%
2022	27.85%	71.47%
2023	29.02%	70.26%
2024	28.32%	70.93%

iPhone vs Android US Market Share (source: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/iphone-android-users)

Year	iOS	Android
2009	57.9%	6.16%
2010	38.31%	18.71%
2011	38.33%	35.32%
2012	49.48%	40.63%
2013	52.79%	39.25%
2014	52.3%	42.58%
2015	50.85%	46.42%
2016	53.19%	45.2%
2017	53.89%	45.23%
2018	54.82%	44.73%
2019	55.23%	44.51%
2020	59.54%	40.27%
2021	58.58%	41.11%
2022	56.74%	42.94%
2023	58.1%	41.46%
2024	58.81%	40.81%

 

[alancath]

I'm with @hydbob on this. Now that I have AA in the car with the Carlinkit, I can use Google Maps or Here as I want. I've had better luck with HERE maps than most, but it's nice to have a choice. I have a garage remote in the car, so no Homelink needed. (I know it's old school, but it was already working and Homelink was taking more time to program than I wanted to spend on it.) The only thing I'd really like the software to do that it doesn't is let me adjust what speed the parking views turn off automatically, so I can lower it to 10 instead of 15. Honestly, that's the only time I get annoyed at the car. So if that is my biggest complaint about the way the car works, you can see I'm pretty happy with it just as it is now.

Doesn't anyone mind that Carlinkit hijacks your phone calls whenever you're on the phone anywhere near the car (such as in your house) because i stays on all the time because the Air's USB ports are unswitched? To prevent this, you have to either
- turn your phone's Bluetooth off every time you get out of the car, or
- unplug Carlinkit every time yo get out of the car, which is very difficult due to the awkward USB port placement way at the back of the console
Also, for me, Carlinkit wouldn't display properly on the Glass Cockpit - it just ran right off the screen.
Also, these are also sketchy hackable products that expose your home network, especially since they are on all the time

Lucid should have Android Auto, and as I posted elsewhere in this thread, proper access to the Google Play Android Automotive Store.

 

[alancath]

It's also possible to add a Konnected GDO White to your Genie and allow Alexa access to it (with a voice PIN to open, none to close). Then you can close your garage door with a voice command as you are backing out and have turned the car away from your garage sensors. And ask Alexa if the door is closed later on in case you've forgotten. Voice command is a little easier than switching the car to park and trying to hit that little rectangle twice on the touch screen while remaining mindful of what's going on around you.

Thanks for this suggestion and roger all those points. I'm fully deployed with Google Assistant - about 60 devices throughout the home (not Alexa) and myQ, so I'd have to rework things to deploy Konnected. I also figured out - as you did - that pointing the car at a certain angle will prevent Genie's sensors from getting tripped by Lucid's Lidar. I will also say I love the Lidar since I can see exactly where to stop in my garage - that's really great - so I guess it's worth it - but I will also say that if I had been warned about these issues when I picked up the car a lot of aggravation could have been avoided. Maybe that's too much to expect.

 

[Bobby]

The best part about this comment, although I 100% agree with you, is all the people on the Rivian forums who constantly whine about not having CarPlay. I've had it in a few cars now, and I think your line about "some janky add-on to compensate for poorly integrated software" is spot on. CarPlay works far less well on my wife's BMW than the native system does on my Rivian, in ALL aspects outside of text messaging which is a feature I find cumbersome and of diminishing utility anyways. It's great for a simple reply but the voice activation just shows that a phone call is still best practice to exchange information while driving and Rivian's implementation there is perfectly fine.

Lack of CarPlay is the #1 reason I will not buy a Rivian.

 

[borski]

Just use a Carlinkit, but now that Fall is coming soon, you can wait!

Yes, but after fall…

 

[Amster]

Doesn't anyone mind that Carlinkit hijacks your phone calls whenever you're on the phone anywhere near the car (such as in your house) because i stays on all the time because the Air's USB ports are unswitched? To prevent this, you have to either
- turn your phone's Bluetooth off every time you get out of the car, or
- unplug Carlinkit every time yo get out of the car, which is very difficult due to the awkward USB port placement way at the back of the console
Also, for me, Carlinkit wouldn't display properly on the Glass Cockpit - it just ran right off the screen.
Also, these are also sketchy hackable products that expose your home network, especially since they are on all the time

Lucid should have Android Auto, and as I posted elsewhere in this thread, proper access to the Google Play Android Automotive Store.

We may have AA in a few months, so there's no need to worry about it now. But to answer all your points.
I hadn't noticed it grabbing calls when I was in the house. I don't know, maybe no one calls me. It's definitely not grabbing texts. I did notice it wasn't driver specific in the car, which is something I appreciate with the native Lucid software, that only answers the driver's calls not other registered phones in the car.
Unplugging the Carlinkit isn't awkward if you unplug the wire from the unit rather than unplugging the USB side from the car. And I do unplug it if my husband will be driving the car instead of me. He's used to the Lucid software and I don't want to confuse him, he's not very technical.
If it's not displaying properly, you don't have the right unit or it's not set up correctly. I had to return the first one I ordered and get a different model.
As for it being hackable, it may be, Is it more hackable than the Lucid being attached to your home network? Or AA/Carplay running on your home network? I don't know, I'm not a security person. I tend to think that anytime you're online in any way, someone can find out what they want about you if they really want to and have the skills. Even "secure" web sites get breached all the time.

 

[DeaneG]

Thanks for this suggestion and roger all those points. I'm fully deployed with Google Assistant - about 60 devices throughout the home (not Alexa) and myQ, so I'd have to rework things to deploy Konnected....

You were able to drive the Polestar 3? I wasn't aware that there were driveable units in the USA yet. It has a new CPU/GPU compared to the 2, with a new split-screen UX that is said to have great response times. I'll be strongly considering the Polestar 3, along with the Macan EV, when new-car buying time comes. I very much need a midsize SUV with native Google navigation.

BTW Polestar's CEO has mentioned that Polestar cars will support AA and of course CarPlay as they are "not dogmatic" about user adoption of native apps in AAOS/GAS.

Like you, we're also a Google-everywhere household with about 20 Google-branded devices and another 40 or so third-party devices under the control of Google Home via Hubitat. I have no Alexa devices except the Lucid. Integrating Konnected's GDO devices with Lucid's Alexa is reasonably straightforward and needs no coordination with other stuff - you just download a firmware build for the Konnected GDO with Alexa integration turned on, then connect the Konnected GDO to Alexa by spending a few minutes with an Alexa phone app (which you can delete any time after setup is complete). After that, in the Lucid, its a voice command of "Open the garage door" or "Close the garage door". Konnected handles the cloud integration with Alexa, built into the cost of the unit.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

capacitive. got it.

just happen to have some caps nearby

this should light up my touch screen without me taking eyes off the road ...

Thank you for answering my question seriously, @DeaneG

 

[pyle112]

Like you, we're also a Google-everywhere household with about 20 Google-branded devices and another 40 or so third-party devices under the control of Google Home via Hubitat. I have no Alexa devices except the Lucid. Integrating Konnected's GDO devices with Lucid's Alexa is reasonably straightforward and needs no coordination with other stuff - you just download a firmware build for the Konnected GDO with Alexa integration turned on, then connect the Konnected GDO to Alexa by spending a few minutes with an Alexa phone app (which you can delete any time after setup is complete). After that, in the Lucid, its a voice command of "Open the garage door" or "Close the garage door". Konnected handles the cloud integration with Alexa, built into the cost of the unit.

I was a Google everywhere household up until they started deprecating their hubs. They removed recipes and the kitchen hub had to turn into an Alexa

 

[openball]

I'm quite satisfied with the Airs software and my Android. My garage opener has also worked flawlessly.
What I miss is Android play.

 

[Instinctive]

The only thing that would make it better for me, really, is inbuilt google maps.

My phone bluetooths to the car for calls. It can play podcasts the same way, and the native spotify has been great. I just stick the phone in the cupholder or even in the charging slot with google maps up if I'm going somewhere I don't already know how to get to.

It's like a 10% annoyance. Sure would be nice if I could just have google maps, partly because I trust it more than HERE and partly because it has my location history, recent searches, etc.

 

[levsha]

So people want video games.

I don't want video games in my car. I don't play videogames anywhere.
I do want navigation to just start on one click on the appointment in the calendar or on one click in the link that my wife sent me over messenger. And I don't want the car manufacturer to dictate me the only navigation system to use, the only music streaming app, the only messenger.
This all works well with Android Auto.

... driving an actual car is not so important.

I was hearing the argument "the phone should call! Everything else is not so important" 10+ years ago. Where we are now? People spend hours per day with their phones and call maybe minutes per week.

 

[ViperSSD]

So people want video games. ... driving an actual car is not so important.
Pixel 8 here. (retired chemist = not adverse to science / technology )

I have garage door opener on my sun visor because it's a mechanical switch that always works first time,
and I know where it is without taking my eyes off the road.

there is no "close the door" software feature in the Lucid that I can access.
(I gave up after each attempt requires 7 or more "presses" just to get to the menu ).

Anytime I can avoid software or digital I take it.

Something about my body will not make digital switches work....I press, press harder, press lightly, wet my fingertip, press longer, press shorter, press faster or slower, press multiple times, pound on the screen with my fists.
Nothing. How do you folk make touch screens work?

What exactly is the nature of touch-screen digital switches? How do they work? Do the "sense the Aura" of the user?

If I dug up a grave and got a hand or finger, would that make touch-screens work for me?

Completely serious. I can't even make a digital ATM work. I only go to the ones with mechanical buttons.

Do you have Reynaud's disease?

 

[levsha]

Disturbingly, at the last Lucid store Cars & Coffee another Lucid owner told me he heard that Lucid will never have Android Auto because Android Auto and Android Automotive are not compatible with each other

That is not true, you can have Android Auto in Android Automotive entertainment systems. Polestar 2 has them all.

- and with what I've learned from Googlers about silo'd team issues there, this seems possible.

Must be some misunderstanding. Google is very open internally, maybe like no other company. Android Auto and Android Automotive teams are heavily connected.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

Do you have Reynaud's disease?

I must have very dry skin...the air gap makes me impotent.
This means wetting my poking-finger should work!
I'll keep a Margarita in the cup holder!

= mostly the wife is navigating for me from her iphone , using WAYS and whatever nav / space lazers she uses. she is not connected to my, ahm, our car. Every input goes through me. I can command my navigator to find / press a digital switch (my fingers are 50/50) and search a menu tree, back up, .... humm...maybe voice control is ok...

"HAL ... open the &#! ^*( #@@! pod bay door."


So yes, I am looking forward to Android Auto because then I can give my phone to her and be done with phones and talking to people / things.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

Apologize for the slang "video games" I mean digital displays and layers of digital displays. I see how I offend..

 

[ViperSSD]

I had a boss who had Reynaud's, it was only problematic sometimes and not a whole lot that can be done about it. Sucks in this modern world though.

 

[levsha]

Apologize for the slang "video games" I mean digital displays and layers of digital displays. I see how I offend..

The thing is that for some usage scenarios digital displays are the only usable option: navigation, and you have navigation on the digital display doesn't matter what the car manufacturer uses.
For some other options it's most likely ok to have them in digital displays: equalizer for sure, driver seat adjustments maybe (combined with the memory fiction of course). And it's completely the question to the car manufacturer how they decided to implement this. The os of the entertainment system doesn't limit them with this: Volvo EX90 & XC90 have Android Automotive based entertainment systems and still have physical seat control buttons on the seat.
And some functions have to have dedicated physical controls, and again, the os of the entertainment system allows car manufacturers to do so. It's Tesla's decision to implement opening glovebox trough the touchscreen, Android Auto/Automotive hasn't dictated them to do so (as they don't have it at all). It's VW decision to put two window switches and front/back switch button (touch sensitive wtf!) instead of just four switches.
Implementing (or not) some functions using digital screens is completely decision of the car manufacturer, Android Auto/Automotive doesn't limit them in this.