Arizona to Washington

[Buffalo Bob]

Just completed a 1,550 mile trip from Tempe, AZ to Sammamish, WA. No sightseeing planned, so we just took 2.5 days. (This car is so comfortable that long hauls are surprisingly easy.) Given the heat dome issues last weekend, we elected to head to the high country in Flagstaff, and then take a far less traveled route through northern Arizona and into Utah, and then on the Interstates through Salt Lake City, Boise, and on. One crucial segment was a 283 mile stretch between Flagstaff, AZ and Cedar City, UT, with only one ChargePoint spot along the way. The ChargePoint spot has a PlugScore rating of 10, but also recent reports that all the chargers were broken. The good news was that it is a slower non-freeway route, with a net elevation reduction, and cooler temperatures, so we decided to charge our Pure AWD to 98% in Flagstaff, follow the speed limits, and go for it. To our surprise, we not only were able to skip the ChargePoint stop, but we also made it to Cedar City with about 100 miles of remaining range showing on the Lucid navigation app. 63 kWh used, with a burn rate of 4.5 miles per kWh. Nice! The rest of the trip followed Interstate roads all the way to our destination at posted speeds, so our efficiency was far lower. We ended at about 3.8 miles/kWh.

Unlike our recent 3,000 mile trip, there were a few minor car issues on this one. For the first day and a half, the car's SIM card would not engage. Things like a logo reset did not help, and then it suddenly started working. Then, I wanted to confirm my disdain for Highway Assist, but was unable to get it to engage on the Interstates in Utah and Idaho. Then, somewhere in Oregon, it suddenly came to life. I suppose it is possible that there is no HA in those areas, but wouldn't the car tell me it was unavailable if I were long-pressing the cruise control button trying to engage it? BTW, I did confirm my disdain for HA, as the car swayed all over the place as if it had just chugged a half a dozen beers. I cannot fathom how so many people on the forum like it. Most disconcerting was losing the 360 degree cameras for a day en route. Man, I missed that thing! Strangely enough, by our last five hour day of driving, all of those things miraculously healed themselves.

We found Electrify America spacing to be a bit of a challenge relative to what we experienced in the Midwest, as the remaining range would often be just a tad short of the cushion we like, and force an additional stop.

All in all a good trip.

 

[Adnillien]

For the first day and a half, the car's SIM card would not engage. Things like a logo reset did not help, and then it suddenly started working. Then, I wanted to confirm my disdain for Highway Assist, but was unable to get it to engage on the Interstates in Utah and Idaho. Then, somewhere in Oregon, it suddenly came to life. I suppose it is possible that there is no HA in those areas, but wouldn't the car tell me it was unavailable if I were long-pressing the cruise control button trying to engage it?

HA requires a cellular link to work. The connectivity problems that you had were probably related to this.

 

[Gary@SGR]

I did a similar trip from Sedona to Chehalis last Sep. I am guessing the ChargePoint stop you skipped was in Kanab, UT. We stopped there to charge and it worked, although slow. At least we were able to top off while eating lunch and comfortably toured around Bryce Canyon before hitting I15 with the EA network. We had a significant headwind on I84 along the Columbia River and I noticed an efficiency drop.

 

[segbrk]

unable to get it to engage on the Interstates in Utah and Idaho

Was this while the LTE wasn't connecting?

wouldn't the car tell me it was unavailable if I were long-pressing the cruise control button trying to engage it?

No, I don't think it does. I think it should, but I don't think it does.

the car swayed all over the place as if it had just chugged a half a dozen beers. I cannot fathom how so many people on the forum like it.

That really just isn't normal. Get that serviced. It's more centered and stable than I am, aside from the rare confusion with old crisscrossing lines on the road.

 

[Buffalo Bob]

HA requires a cellular link to work. The connectivity problems that you had were probably related to this.

Interesting. I didn't know that, but the SIM card was working for hours before HA started working. I may not have actively tried to engage it for a while, but if that were it, wouldn't the HA available notification show up? Thanks for the information!

 

[Buffalo Bob]

Yes, it was Kanab, UT. Seemed like a nice town! We had no wind to speak of.

 

[Buffalo Bob]

Was this while the LTE wasn't connecting?


No, I don't think it does. I think it should, but I don't think it does.


That really just isn't normal. Get that serviced. It's more centered and stable than I am, aside from the rare confusion with old crisscrossing lines on the road.

Thanks. I just learned about the HA LTE connection.

Odd that it does not say unavailable (if so) when you try to engage.

I guess I will have to get HA checked out. There were a couple times when it was swaying from left to right, albeit within the lane, a half a dozen times following a small curve, and another time where the right lane marker was interrupted at an exit, and the car started to go right off the road.

 

[coma24]

Great trip report. For my planning, is it easy to determine the cellular data signal strength, and/or whether the sim card is having issues?

 

[segbrk]

Great trip report. For my planning, is it easy to determine the cellular data signal strength, and/or whether the sim card is having issues?

The cell signal strength is displayed in the top left corner of your rightmost "glass cockpit" screen. For what it's worth I've never seen HA disengage because it doesn't have service. I don't think it needs data constantly.

 

[borski]

For what it's worth I've never seen HA disengage because it doesn't have service. I don't think it needs data constantly.

It does, but it doesn’t disengage; it simply won’t turn on without service.

 

[xponents]

Is there a reason HA needs cellular to turn on? Maybe to see if the road it is on is compatible?

 

[joecrna]

Worst drive assist I've had the misfortune of using. Wont follow tighter curves on freeway, ping pongs down lane and "works" on fewer miles of road then Ford or GM with their need for photo documented roads.

 

[Buffalo Bob]

Worst drive assist I've had the misfortune of using. Wont follow tighter curves on freeway, ping pongs down lane and "works" on fewer miles of road then Ford or GM with their need for photo documented roads.

Several very credible people on the forum have convinced me that our shared tracking experience is a calibration problem, so I have scheduled a service appointment to have it checked out. I suggest that you do the same. I can't speak to your relative experience with other manufacturer's availability.

 

[Jeanwoodie]

Just completed a 1,550 mile trip from Tempe, AZ to Sammamish, WA. No sightseeing planned, so we just took 2.5 days. (This car is so comfortable that long hauls are surprisingly easy.) Given the heat dome issues last weekend, we elected to head to the high country in Flagstaff, and then take a far less traveled route through northern Arizona and into Utah, and then on the Interstates through Salt Lake City, Boise, and on. One crucial segment was a 283 mile stretch between Flagstaff, AZ and Cedar City, UT, with only one ChargePoint spot along the way. The ChargePoint spot has a PlugScore rating of 10, but also recent reports that all the chargers were broken. The good news was that it is a slower non-freeway route, with a net elevation reduction, and cooler temperatures, so we decided to charge our Pure AWD to 98% in Flagstaff, follow the speed limits, and go for it. To our surprise, we not only were able to skip the ChargePoint stop, but we also made it to Cedar City with about 100 miles of remaining range showing on the Lucid navigation app. 63 kWh used, with a burn rate of 4.5 miles per kWh. Nice! The rest of the trip followed Interstate roads all the way to our destination at posted speeds, so our efficiency was far lower. We ended at about 3.8 miles/kWh.

Unlike our recent 3,000 mile trip, there were a few minor car issues on this one. For the first day and a half, the car's SIM card would not engage. Things like a logo reset did not help, and then it suddenly started working. Then, I wanted to confirm my disdain for Highway Assist, but was unable to get it to engage on the Interstates in Utah and Idaho. Then, somewhere in Oregon, it suddenly came to life. I suppose it is possible that there is no HA in those areas, but wouldn't the car tell me it was unavailable if I were long-pressing the cruise control button trying to engage it? BTW, I did confirm my disdain for HA, as the car swayed all over the place as if it had just chugged a half a dozen beers. I cannot fathom how so many people on the forum like it. Most disconcerting was losing the 360 degree cameras for a day en route. Man, I missed that thing! Strangely enough, by our last five hour day of driving, all of those things miraculously healed themselves.

We found Electrify America spacing to be a bit of a challenge relative to what we experienced in the Midwest, as the remaining range would often be just a tad short of the cushion we like, and force an additional stop.

All in all a good trip.

Buffalo Bob,
With 39,006 miles on my 2 yr old GT, a couple of thoughts on Highway Assist (HA). I’ve noted some sections of Highway, namely I-90 from Seattle, having similar behavior as you’ve described, these sections relatively short, but often I will switch to Adaptive Control (AC).
AC is almost as comfortable as HA as AC has lane control rather than lane centering and does eliminate the annoying “Keep Your Hands On The Wheel” prompts.
Regardless most of my driving I use HA with just little wheel pressure either towards center lane or dew one to avoid the prompts.

The problem I’m having with my GT is the amount of miles being racked up. Now chomping on the bit to get in line for the Gravity.

 

[Buffalo Bob]

Buffalo Bob,
With 39,006 miles on my 2 yr old GT, a couple of thoughts on Highway Assist (HA). I’ve noted some sections of Highway, namely I-90 from Seattle, having similar behavior as you’ve described, these sections relatively short, but often I will switch to Adaptive Control (AC).
AC is almost as comfortable as HA as AC has lane control rather than lane centering and does eliminate the annoying “Keep Your Hands On The Wheel” prompts.
Regardless most of my driving I use HA with just little wheel pressure either towards center lane or dew one to avoid the prompts.

The problem I’m having with my GT is the amount of miles being racked up. Now chomping on the bit to get in line for the Gravity.

Thanks so much for your observations and suggestions, Jeanwoodie. Wow! You are running up the miles at a pretty good clip!

These cars are so nice and easy to drive with Adaptive Cruise that I have only fired up HA from time to time for testing purposes, but I have found the problem to be persistent wherever I am. Other experienced people on the forum have convinced me that what I'm experiencing is far from the norm, and likely a calibration problem, so I have scheduled to have it checked at the Seattle Service Center.

Until HA performs as I would expect, I sure as heck would be reluctant to turn it on through that crazy section of I-90 between the Snoqualmie Pass and Issaquah. That is one wild stretch of twisting road, with white-nuckled newcomers hanging on for dear life while the regulars try to set a new land speed record! No wonder that turns into a GPS red zone many weekends. Between our car's power, suspension and low center of gravity, cruising that stretch is kind of fun, but I sure hope that DDP is up to snuff before it's time for me to get fitted for my drool buckets!

I'll let you know what I find out when I get the car in. Thanks again!

 

[Jeanwoodie]

I’m thinking Easton to the pass a challenge to trust HA. This section in particular I don’t have to prompted to “Keep Your Hands On The Wheel”!
I took delivery of my GT June 30, 2022 from Summer at Seattle Service Center. Apparently one of their first deliveries as Summer had entire Seattle area lucid folks as backdrop!

 

[joecrna]

My Lucid behaves this way no matter where I am. Its been to Lucid service twice. Always pronounced "functioning as designed". Between all of my "daily drivers" I rack up just over 60k miles a year. I use all driver aids like HA or just lane keep assist, depending on the car, as I don't plan on dying driving home just as I near retirement. Honestly the Lucid feels the most like my several year old Accord touring that has active cruise, lane keep assist, road departure and whatever they call their auto braking. Currently the best performer is my wife's Mach e. We dont own, nor will we ever own, a Tesla product. Disapointing considering the amount of cameras, radars and various sensors the Lucid has.

 

[Bobby]

My Lucid behaves this way no matter where I am. Its been to Lucid service twice. Always pronounced "functioning as designed". Between all of my "daily drivers" I rack up just over 60k miles a year. I use all driver aids like HA or just lane keep assist, depending on the car, as I don't plan on dying driving home just as I near retirement. Honestly the Lucid feels the most like my several year old Accord touring that has active cruise, lane keep assist, road departure and whatever they call their auto braking. Currently the best performer is my wife's Mach e. We dont own, nor will we ever own, a Tesla product. Disapointing considering the amount of cameras, radars and various sensors the Lucid has.

Did you test drive the car before purchasing it? If this functionality was very important to you, there are other vehicles out there that have more complete software. I hope that Lucid does improve the functionality of DD Pro over time, however.

 

[BS8899]

Did you test drive the car before purchasing it? If this functionality was very important to you, there are other vehicles out there that have more complete software. I hope that Lucid does improve the functionality of DD Pro over time, however.

I am a little put-off by several moderator's constant dismissive comments RE: "didn't you test drive the car before you bought?".

First, the comment is fair with respect to obvious thing such as the comfort of the cabin, headroom, seats etc.. But things that related to DDPro is a different category. First, the Lucid has 14 cameras, various sensors, LIDAR, etc. etc.. Second, Lucid charged extra (significant extra) for DDPro. Yet, over the time I owned my AGT (since Oct 2022), there has been virtually no improvements. And there is no communicated roadmap from Lucid. Even if I were thorough in my test drive, was my expectations for improvements over the past 20 months totally mis calibrated?

As I have noted in prior posts and similar remarks by other owners, Lucid's driver automation features are similar to cars from about 8 years ago. Perhaps my expectations were simply exaggerated.

Bobby, in a recent posting, you agreed with me the DDPro is a disappointment and we didn't get our money's worth.

Bobby, you are one of the most respected contributors to this forum. I urge the moderators to be more fair in their comments and not just defend Lucid no matter what. We all want Lucid to succeed. I don't think Lucid is on the right track!