Living with the Lucid Gravity: A Tesla Owner’s Journey

[TomDenver]

Yes, please keep posting updates. We’ve had five Teslas and are scheduled to take delivery of our Gravity next week. Your posts are very helpful and address many concerns uncovered by researching this forum.

 

[Brian_N]

Yes, please keep posting updates. We’ve had five Teslas and are scheduled to take delivery of our Gravity next week. Your posts are very helpful and address many concerns uncovered by researching this forum.

Thanks

 

[johnse]

I agree it annoying to have to re-enter a route when initially switching profiles (drivers) on long road trips.

Both our Air and our Volvo EV have this same behavior. Our workaround on lengthy road trips is to build a trip plan on Google maps on the desktop, then email it to both our phones. We can then send the complete trip plan independently to the car before setting out, or on the first driver switch. On switching profiles (drivers) back and forth, each (identical) programmed route stays with the profile and continues where it left off. I think you need to edit the next driver's route to delete intermediate destinations that were already reached under the previous driver's profile, but don't remember exactly.

My wife's Mustang Mach-E also does this with nav. It's annoying.

 

[socktucker]

I agree it annoying to have to re-enter a route when initially switching profiles (drivers) on long road trips.

Both our Air and our Volvo EV have this same behavior. Our workaround on lengthy road trips is to build a trip plan on Google maps on the desktop, then email it to both our phones. We can then send the complete trip plan independently to the car before setting out, or on the first driver switch. On switching profiles (drivers) back and forth, each (identical) programmed route stays with the profile and continues where it left off. I think you need to edit the next driver's route to delete intermediate destinations that were already reached under the previous driver's profile, but don't remember exactly.

Incidentally, Homelink (garage door openers) also used to be locked to a profile, so you needed to program everything twice. Lucid revised this last year to make Homelink programming independent of the current profile. I hope they do the same with nav routing, though I think that having independent nav history and favorites locked to a profile is useful. Not an easy question where to stop.

There could be privacy reasons as well. The user has to consent to 3rd party data sharing for mapping purposes.

 

[HC_79]

Keep in mind, a majority of cars are running on Android Automotive so it’s hard to say what truly is a Lucid limitation or a limitation of the OS itself which is on Google. Tesla has the freedom to do what it wants because they control the entire software stack. They can move fast and break things where other automakers have a whole Google layer telling them what they can and can’t do to a certain extent and need to work within those confines. Tesla also has a 10 year head start on software.

 

[pjdcorp]

I agree it annoying to have to re-enter a route when initially switching profiles (drivers) on long road trips.

Both our Air and our Volvo EV have this same behavior. Our workaround on lengthy road trips is to build a trip plan on Google maps on the desktop, then email it to both our phones. We can then send the complete trip plan independently to the car before setting out, or on the first driver switch. On switching profiles (drivers) back and forth, each (identical) programmed route stays with the profile and continues where it left off. I think you need to edit the next driver's route to delete intermediate destinations that were already reached under the previous driver's profile, but don't remember exactly.

Incidentally, Homelink (garage door openers) also used to be locked to a profile, so you needed to program everything twice. Lucid revised this last year to make Homelink programming independent of the current profile. I hope they do the same with nav routing, though I think that having independent nav history and favorites locked to a profile is useful. Not an easy question where to stop.

Great idea about emailing the route to both drivers & having it available to both profiles.

 

[tomclaussen]

Software development takes an ecosystem, which takes awhile for the various development teams to get comfortable with. Lucid has created a very different hardware environment that did not exist anywhere else. What we call "touch-points" where the different development teams need to hand-off functions to each other take long-time to get working, let alone error-free. Tesla took 8+ years to get where they are to day. (I have a 2022 MS and it has zero issues and FSD finally works well, on an Interstate with no excessive cross-traffic. I still don't trust it though.) I am buying a GGT because it is clearly a better vehicle hands-down. Will it take awhile to get the Software-Defined-Vehicle concept to fruition, you bet. Let's hope it is not a 2-3 year process though.

 

[Brian_N]

Lucid Gravity Day 5

32. What is Lucid’s goal — sell more cars, or drive people away with small unresolved issues?​

I keep asking myself this. Is Lucid focused on selling cars, or are they unintentionally turning people off by failing to fix relatively small but important issues?

33. Who would I recommend this car to?​

I originally wanted to recommend the Gravity to a longtime minivan user in their 60s. After seeing the software bugs and usability problems, I no longer feel comfortable doing that. This level of software instability is not something many older drivers would tolerate.

34. Key detection is unreliable​

Even when the keyfob is right there and positioned in the cup holder, the car sometimes fails to recognize it or unlocks very slowly. That’s a serious trust problem. If a premium car can’t reliably detect the keyfob, it undermines confidence in the whole system.

35. Face-detection warnings are annoying and unnecessary​

The car repeatedly warns that it “can’t see my face,” even while I’m looking straight ahead. That warning is intrusive, confusing, and feels like a false alarm. It shouldn’t be popping up during perfectly normal driving.

36. Navigation is genuinely problematic​

Lucid’s navigation often fails to show the correct locations. I constantly have to cross-check with my phone. Its ETA estimates are frequently off. Tesla’s routing also had flaws, but at least Tesla’s ETA tended to be more accurate — Lucid’s nav is less reliable overall.

37. Climate control heat-up is very slow​

Last night I turned the heater on and the car took a long time to deliver warm air. It took at least three minutes before I actually felt heat. That’s far too slow for comfort in cool conditions.

38. Seat heaters vs steering-wheel heating design​

The seat heaters work immediately and well. The steering-wheel heater, however, seems poorly designed. Heat appears on parts of the wheel you don’t normally hold, while the parts you actually grip don’t warm noticeably. You only really feel it when steering hard left or right. That needs rework.

These are the main issues I discovered this weekend. I’ll continue documenting problems and fixes I find. I want to be constructive, but I also worry about getting roasted in the thread.

 

[johnse]

Heat appears on parts of the wheel you don’t normally hold, while the parts you actually grip don’t warm noticeably. You only really feel it when steering hard left or right. That needs rework.

I don't have mine yet, so asking for some clarity: where do you normally hold the squircle? What parts seem to get warm, what parts don't?

I know that on my Tesla, the parts I'm not holding seem warmer than where I have my hands (at either 12-2 or 9-3). My hands act as a heat sink so the heating elements don't get to their idle temp. Could a similar thing be happening here?

 

[thyname]

38. Seat heaters vs steering-wheel heating design​

The seat heaters work immediately and well. The steering-wheel heater, however, seems poorly designed. Heat appears on parts of the wheel you don’t normally hold, while the parts you actually grip don’t warm noticeably. You only really feel it when steering hard left or right. That needs rework.

seat heaters today in California? Did you move to southern tip of Argentina?

I originally wanted to recommend the Gravity to a longtime minivan user in their 60s. After seeing the software bugs and usability problems, I no longer feel comfortable doing that. This level of software instability is not something many older drivers would tolerate

Terrible idea. It is the very first model of a very new and small company with only one (semi) established model. What did you expect?

 

[DeaneG]

Lucid Gravity Day 5

32. What is Lucid’s goal — sell more cars, or drive people away with small unresolved issues?​

I keep asking myself this. Is Lucid focused on selling cars, or are they unintentionally turning people off by failing to fix relatively small but important issues?

You're going to need to find some patience. It took Lucid three years to let Air owners close their garage door while the car was in reverse. Android Auto also took three years. V2H is still a mystery after four years.

I get the feeling they are pedaling as fast as they can.

 

[Brian_N]

I don't have mine yet, so asking for some clarity: where do you normally hold the squircle? What parts seem to get warm, what parts don't?

I know that on my Tesla, the parts I'm not holding seem warmer than where I have my hands (at either 12-2 or 9-3). My hands act as a heat sink so the heating elements don't get to their idle temp. Could a similar thing be happening here?

You normally hold it like a regular steering wheel, on the left and right where the control buttons are. Those parts don’t heat up. The top and bottom sections get warm, but the wheel isn’t designed to be driven comfortably from the top or bottom—it’s really meant to be held at the sides. Turning the wheel itself feels great, and the design is definitely much better than Tesla’s awkward steering wheels, but unfortunately the heater seems poorly implemented.


I’m convinced there are no heating elements where you actually rest your hands. Those areas simply don’t get warm at all. Even if I try holding the wheel at the top or bottom and wait, the sides still don’t heat up. I’ll test it again shortly just to be sure, but I’m about 90% confident there’s no heater in the grip zones where we keep our hands.

 

[Brian_N]

You're going to need to find some patience. It took Lucid three years to let Air owners close their garage door while the car was in reverse. Android Auto also took three years. V2H is still a mystery after four years.

I get the feeling they are pedaling as fast as they can.

I don’t agree with your comment. If that’s really the case, then Lucid should delay releasing the car until those issues are solved. Otherwise, I’ll never feel fully connected to the brand, nor could I recommend this car to anyone. Right now, it gives the impression of a vehicle filled with unnecessary problems. And these are the kinds of simple issues that any car company should be able to resolve before beginning sales.

 

[allenmhc]

I don’t agree with your comment. If that’s really the case, then Lucid should delay releasing the car until those issues are solved. Otherwise, I’ll never feel fully connected to the brand, nor could I recommend this car to anyone. Right now, it gives the impression of a vehicle filled with unnecessary problems. And these are the kinds of simple issues that any car company should be able to resolve before beginning sales.

That's just…not how product development works.

You ship your hardware because you need to exercise all aspects of your product, from design to manufacturing to sales and support. You ship it because there are a lot more users who put it in various conditions that no amount of internal testers you employ can hope to match. You ship so that you can iterate on issues and get to the next, better version. I build software for a living and one of the traps the junior developers fall into is the sense that they'd rather spend months/years tweaking their work till they think it's "ready for release" and every time the results are underwhelming for the amount of time + effort spent, because there's no real feedback loop without end users making full use of the product.

None of the luxury car brands got to where they are now without having released a bunch of cars with issues that they improved year-on-year. None of the infotainment and software in the car are where they are without releasing multiple major and minor versions, again through years of shipping. Getting what feels like an incomplete and buggy software experience can be frustrating and isn't for everybody; hence this forum and early adopters pay that cost of figuring things out, one version at a time.

 

[borski]

34. Key detection is unreliable​

Even when the keyfob is right there and positioned in the cup holder, the car sometimes fails to recognize it or unlocks very slowly. That’s a serious trust problem. If a premium car can’t reliably detect the keyfob, it undermines confidence in the whole system.

As I’ve explained 2-3 times before… go to service and get the key fob update. This is a fixed problem.

35. Face-detection warnings are annoying and unnecessary​

The car repeatedly warns that it “can’t see my face,” even while I’m looking straight ahead. That warning is intrusive, confusing, and feels like a false alarm. It shouldn’t be popping up during perfectly normal driving.

As I’ve explained 2-3 times before, this is because you are blocking the camera with your hand. Hold the wheel at the sides or at the bottom and this error will go away.

If it doesn’t, you have a hardware problem and need to call service.

 

[Elfin]

That's just…not how product development works.

You ship your hardware because you need to exercise all aspects of your product, from design to manufacturing to sales and support. You ship it because there are a lot more users who put it in various conditions that no amount of internal testers you employ can hope to match. You ship so that you can iterate on issues and get to the next, better version. I build software for a living and one of the traps the junior developers fall into is the sense that they'd rather spend months/years tweaking their work till they think it's "ready for release" and every time the results are underwhelming for the amount of time + effort spent, because there's no real feedback loop without end users making full use of the product.

None of the luxury car brands got to where they are now without having released a bunch of cars with issues that they improved year-on-year. None of the infotainment and software in the car are where they are without releasing multiple major and minor versions, again through years of shipping. Getting what feels like an incomplete and buggy software experience can be frustrating and isn't for everybody; hence this forum and early adopters pay that cost of figuring things out, one version at a time.

I'm old enough to remember when cars didn't have OTA updates yet somehow the proximity keys worked.

 

[Ron_Burgundy]

I hate to say it, but feel like OP is kind of throwing grenades here. Lots of valid points mixed with completely absurd “issues” that seem designed to goad folks into responding. None of which haven’t been covered thoughtfully and constructively in other places on the forum.

That said, I can choose not to pay attention to the thread and that is what I will do going forward.

 

[037]

I hate to say it, but feel like OP is kind of throwing grenades here. Lots of valid points mixed with completely absurd “issues” that seem designed to goad folks into responding. None of which haven’t been covered thoughtfully and constructively in other places on the forum.

That said, I can choose not to pay attention to the thread and that is what I will do going forward.

He is just someone who has not followed the forum for the past year for every day, looks normal to me, someone who does read the forum daily for the past year…

 

[Ron_Burgundy]

He is just someone who has not followed the forum for the past year for every day, looks normal to me, someone who does read the forum daily for the past year…

Wait….it’s not normal to read the forum daily? Perhaps, more than once a day?

I get it, but it doesn’t absolve someone from doing any research before throwing down $100,000+…again, I don’t want to get in the fray hear.

Also, I am OUTRAGED that the Gravity doesn’t have Lucid logo lights coming from the side mirror for puddle lights like Rivian. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

Also, my X farts whenever I want it to. Why doesn’t the Lucid? Again, it just doesn’t measure up. And the Lucid absolutely needs more cowbell.

Okay, I am done.

 

[Allnatt]

As I’ve explained 2-3 times before, this is because you are blocking the camera with your hand. Hold the wheel at the sides or at the bottom and this error will go away.

If it doesn’t, you have a hardware problem and need to call service.

...but in a really well designed car like the Tesla you shouldn't have to do that. In fact his buddy, Elon, invented a neural link so all you have to do is plug a USB cable into your forehead and you can drive with your eyes closed.