Car and Driver Tested: 2023 Lucid Air Touring Hits the Sweet Spot

[MoniputerLM]

I’m not convinced of that, actually, given that Highway Assist is among the best systems I’ve ever used. Whatever Lucid’s software woes are, their lane keeping and piloting systems seem to work extremely well.

Lucid ACC and Highway Assist, at this point, are inferior to Mercedes and even Telsa based upon my experience.

 

[hydbob]

Lucid ACC and Highway Assist, at this point, are inferior to Mercedes and even Telsa based upon my experience.

All the reports of phantom braking in Tesla vs none in Lucid would disagree with you

 

[MoniputerLM]

All the reports of phantom braking in Tesla vs none in Lucid would disagree with you

Just stating my driving experience based on over a year driving a DE-P, 6 months with an AMG EQS and use of Tesla model S, X and 3, so much less time in the Teslas.

 

[HC_79]

Lucid ACC and Highway Assist, at this point, are inferior to Mercedes and even Telsa based upon my experience.

I have to somewhat disagree on that one at least for the Tesla as even it has it quirks (phantom braking). Never used the Mercedes one so can't comment on that.

Taking ACC + Lane Keeping in it's pure form I think Lucid is certainly up there with its competitors. The main issues i've seen with Lucid is it doesn't do a good job at handling bends and midway in it's asking for assistance vs Tesla where it feels like a rollercoaster going into a bend as it doesn't seem to slow down even though it holds the lane guidance well. Comparing Lucid to my previous e-Tron I would say it's probably on par EXCEPT Audi used the mapping system to know when bends were coming and would automatically slow the car down. Audi also handled overtaking better as well as when you hit the stalk it would disengage the wheel so you were free to move over vs. the fighting you have to do with the Lucid to get it move lanes.

None of them are perfect though, they all have quirks of some nature.

 

[MoniputerLM]

I have to somewhat disagree on that one at least for the Tesla as even it has it quirks (phantom braking). Never used the Mercedes one so can't comment on that.

Taking ACC + Lane Keeping in it's pure form I think Lucid is certainly up there with its competitors. The main issues i've seen with Lucid is it doesn't do a good job at handling bends and midway in it's asking for assistance vs Tesla where it feels like a rollercoaster going into a bend as it doesn't seem to slow down even though it holds the lane guidance well. Comparing Lucid to my previous e-Tron I would say it's probably on par EXCEPT Audi used the mapping system to know when bends were coming and would automatically slow the car down. Audi also handled overtaking better as well as when you hit the stalk it would disengage the wheel so you were free to move over vs. the fighting you have to do with the Lucid to get it move lanes.

None of them are perfect though, they all have quirks of some nature.

I have not had any anomies using the Mercedes lane keeping system. It is very good.

 

[dolphinsafe]

I’m not convinced of that, actually, given that Highway Assist is among the best systems I’ve ever used. Whatever Lucid’s software woes are, their lane keeping and piloting systems seem to work extremely well.

I'm curious what roads you're using HA on? It's subpar in lane keeping and often gets confused/lost when there's any question about lane marking, lane widening etc. And, it requires attention at a fairly high rate - I think 15 seconds. In many cases it wants to move into turn lanes that it has no business being in.
On straight roads it does very well but I would never trust it on any kind of curvy situation like I-30 heading West into Garland.

 

[borski]

I'm curious what roads you're using HA on? It's subpar in lane keeping and often gets confused/lost when there's any question about lane marking, lane widening etc. And, it requires attention at a fairly high rate - I think 15 seconds. In many cases it wants to move into turn lanes that it has no business being in.
On straight roads it does very well but I would never trust it on any kind of curvy situation like I-30 heading West into Garland.

Every highway in California, pretty much. It does not “move into” any lane, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to. When there are no lane markings, it follows the car ahead of it. If neither is present, you nudge it where you want it to go until either is present again.

It doesn’t “require attention” every 15 seconds… it requires attention at all times, as it isn’t a hands free system and no such system exists yet on a road-legal car in the US (certainly not Tesla). I’ve had no issues with keeping my hands (or a hand) on the wheel.

Works great on curvy roads. I’ve used it on CA-17 to Santa Cruz with no issues, and it’s extremely curvy.

 

[joec]

Every highway in California, pretty much. It does not “move into” any lane, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to. When there are no lane markings, it follows the car ahead of it. If neither is present, you nudge it where you want it to go until either is present again.

It doesn’t “require attention” every 15 seconds… it requires attention at all times, as it isn’t a hands free system and no such system exists yet on a road-legal car in the US (certainly not Tesla). I’ve had no issues with keeping my hands (or a hand) on the wheel.

Works great on curvy roads. I’ve used it on CA-17 to Santa Cruz with no issues, and it’s extremely curvy.

Ahhh, I miss CA-17. Such a fun drive.

I've had HA drop off steering on me a few times on particularly strong curves, but it always warns me about it. Since, as you said, I'm always paying attention and my hands are already on the wheel, it's not a big deal to keep myself in the lane for a second or two until it gets its bearing again. I'm sure this will improve over time with more data.

I have to agree with many of my fellow posters here; of all the software domains in the car, ADAS is actually one of the least-buggy at the moment. My guess is that data they are getting from NVidia will help them catch up fairly quickly. I would not be surprised to see Traffic Jam Assist and/or Highway Pilot, or whatever, sometime this year.

 

[MoniputerLM]

Every highway in California, pretty much. It does not “move into” any lane, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to. When there are no lane markings, it follows the car ahead of it. If neither is present, you nudge it where you want it to go until either is present again.

It doesn’t “require attention” every 15 seconds… it requires attention at all times, as it isn’t a hands free system and no such system exists yet on a road-legal car in the US (certainly not Tesla). I’ve had no issues with keeping my hands (or a hand) on the wheel.

Works great on curvy roads. I’ve used it on CA-17 to Santa Cruz with no issues, and it’s extremely curvy.

I have trouble with some curves on Houston highways. Does well on straight roads. Not production quality yet but a good start.

 

[DBV]

All the reports of phantom braking in Tesla vs none in Lucid would disagree with you

I agree, as I think my Tesla works really well on freeway driving and can be hand free much longer than my last BMW. Rarely had phantom breaking in last year of ownership and have put over 22,000 miles on the car with mostly freeway driving and using FSD.

 

[dolphinsafe]

Every highway in California, pretty much. It does not “move into” any lane, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to. When there are no lane markings, it follows the car ahead of it. If neither is present, you nudge it where you want it to go until either is present again.

It doesn’t “require attention” every 15 seconds… it requires attention at all times, as it isn’t a hands free system and no such system exists yet on a road-legal car in the US (certainly not Tesla). I’ve had no issues with keeping my hands (or a hand) on the wheel.

Works great on curvy roads. I’ve used it on CA-17 to Santa Cruz with no issues, and it’s extremely curvy.

Certainly not my experience. Next time I use HA I'll post a video of spots I can guarantee HA will not function properly - and it' s not like I have to find the specific spot - it'll do it in several areas. And, it's in areas you would expect it to work well. Perhaps the mapping in CA is more robust than TX. I even experienced issues when on my test drive with a Lucid rep in Plano. We discussed it's "failings" because I engaged HA and it immediately lost track of itself when the right lane marker disappeared and it decided to start heading onto the shoulder. It also will switch to "Highway Assist Limited" on occasion when it loses track of lane markers - but not always. One irritation is that the "HA Limited" alert looks almost identical to "Pay Attention" - they should probably change that notification to be a different color or different image than the "hands on the wheel" one.

When I say "requires attention" I mean a nudge on the wheel - even when I'm holding it (which is always). It is also a bit confused as to whether I'm paying attention or not - as in "eyes on the road" - It gives false alerts at times when I'm certainly looking at the road.

What's it's very impressive at is following distance - perhaps the best I've experienced because it apparently adjust distance based on speed.

 

[Steveinarizona]

Comparing Lucid to my previous e-Tron I would say it's probably on par EXCEPT Audi used the mapping system to know when bends were coming and would automatically slow the car down

It is a matter of taste. My GV60 does do the slowing down around bends thing; it is the first thing I turned off when I got the car. I prefer to make those judgments myself.