Lucid Gravity next improvements wish list

[borski]

That’s a carrier coverage problem, not an antenna on the roof problem.

To be fair, it is Lucid that chose to use an LTE radio rather than 5G.

 

[borski]

I bet it costs a helluva lot more to build left-handed drive for the UK market

It does. That’s why Lucid hasn’t done it.

 

[borski]

It's simply a worse audio experience than it is in cars 1/4 the price (since actually getting the audio is the biggest part).

Absolutely untrue. It may be a worse Sirius XM experience (I wouldn’t know, I don’t use the service) but it is absolutely not a worse audio experience.

It is simply that you want a specific service the car does not have, which is satellite radio over satellite links. That has literally nothing to do with the “audio experience,” and everything to do exclusively with your Sirius XM experience.

Which is fine! But let’s not be hyperbolic.

 

[Saksak]

One more very important improvement that is necessary: the follow distance is maximum 4 car lengths. It must be increased to 1 through 7 same as Tesla. Seven car lengths is a safe following distance at speeds over 65 to 75 mph. Please make this change!

The Gravity isn’t based on car length from what I can tell, and I would not want it to be based on car length.

I’d like it to be a predictable time-based following distance. For example: 1 2 3 4 (seconds). I suspect it’s currently some AI trained model, but this is one case where hard programming would be much better.

My 2016 Volvo XC 90 has absolutely beautiful ACC. You can see the speed of the car in front of you on the speedometer, so you know the car is sensing and processing that data. It takes into account not just distance, but also relative speed. Speed adjustment is buttery smooth with perfect following distance regardless of speed. The gold standard, IMHO.

 

[eelpout]

This is a very US centric complaint. Satellite radio is largely a North American thing, it’s not a global standard, & outside the US it’s either unavailable, rarely used, or outright irrelevant. Designing and certifying dedicated satellite hardware, antennas, licensing, and long-term support for a shrinking, region locked service is not a trivial or free decision, especially for a low volume global automaker like Lucid at the moment.

Luxury in 2025 isn’t defined by clinging to legacy broadcast tech, it’s defined by software, sound quality, streaming flexibility & integration. The real issue you’re describing isn’t “no satellite radio,” it’s cellular reliability. That’s a carrier coverage problem, not an antenna on the roof problem.

Plenty of premium brands are moving away from satellite entirely for this exact reason. Expecting every automaker to prioritize a declining, US only service because one market is used to it isn’t realistic or particularly future focused.

agree to disagree. does no one drive outside the cities and off the interstate? Cellular service does not exist everywhere, check any cell coverage map. relying on it for 90% of the OTA media is in my mind, shortsighted. but I'm also speaking as a ham radio guy. at least they kept FM.

 

[dbsb3233]

Absolutely untrue. It may be a worse Sirius XM experience (I wouldn’t know, I don’t use the service) but it is absolutely not a worse audio experience.

It is simply that you want a specific service the car does not have, which is satellite radio over satellite links. That has literally nothing to do with the “audio experience,” and everything to do exclusively with your Sirius XM experience.

Which is fine! But let’s not be hyperbolic.

That's not true, unless you're using something that downloads like an hour of content first to make it though rural dead zones. It's not just SXM that needs internet in the Gravity, it's EVERY service, isn't it? Except maybe FM radio. If that even has a real antenna. And even if it does, good luck getting an FM signal in the middle of nowhere on a road trip.

How are you getting audio content when there's no internet? In my Macan (or prior to that, my Mach-E) I still got continuous audio via SXM antenna. If you never use SXM, well, OK, then it's an equally bad experience in any vehicle that isn't getting internet. Either way it sucks though when you can't get audio, especially in a premium vehicle. It's like the people that designed it this way have never been on a road trip before.

I consider periods of no audio to be a worse experience than being able to get it consistently.

 

[borski]

That's not true, unless you're using something that downloads like an hour of content first to make it though rural dead zones. It's not just SXM that needs internet in the Gravity, it's EVERY service, isn't it? Except maybe FM radio. If that even has a real antenna. And even if it does, good luck getting an FM signal in the middle of nowhere on a road trip.

How are you getting audio content when there's no internet? In my Macan (or prior to that, my Mach-E) I still got continuous audio via SXM antenna. If you never use SXM, well, OK, then it's an equally bad experience in any vehicle that isn't getting internet. Either way it sucks though when you can't get audio, especially in a premium vehicle. It's like the people that designed it this way have never been on a road trip before.

I consider periods of no audio to be a worse experience than being able to get it consistently.

AM/FM radio work fine, stored music on your phone works fine, a USB key works fine, etc.

 

[tmichael]

The Gravity isn’t based on car length from what I can tell, and I would not want it to be based on car length.

I’d like it to be a predictable time-based following distance. For example: 1 2 3 4 (seconds). I suspect it’s currently some AI trained model, but this is one case where hard programming would be much better.

My 2016 Volvo XC 90 has absolutely beautiful ACC. You can see the speed of the car in front of you on the speedometer, so you know the car is sensing and processing that data. It takes into account not just distance, but also relative speed. Speed adjustment is buttery smooth with perfect following distance regardless of speed. The gold standard, IMHO.

I would still like it to allow for a closer following distance before slowing down. I don't like adaptive cruise control in any event, but I don't want to have to pull out ahead of someone who will overtake me in time for me to safely change lanes and pass someone in front of me just because the car has deemed I'm going to hit the car in front of me. Let me drive the car in cruise control - wait until I have given up complete control to the car so I can read the newspaper before you make proactive (as opposed to reactive) measures on my behalf.

Really poorly worded, but I hope you get what i mean. Not enough coffee or time to work hard on that paragraph.

 

[dbsb3233]

AM/FM radio work fine, stored music on your phone works fine, a USB key works fine, etc.

All of which is having to settle for less, or going through extra effort to download content because the car fails to provide it. Compared to just being able to listen to the 100+ channels of content we dependably get without interruption everywhere in the country. Thus why I call it a worse audio experience (for anyone that utilizes that capability, anyway). Surprises me Lucid wouldn't offer that option in a premium car when it's so common across the auto industry. Especially on a car touted as the ultimate long-distance road-tripper. Audio cutting in and out isn't premium.

When the internet works, the quality of the audio is great, even superior to most cars. But it's mostly dependent on internet connectivity. And so far that's been poor. And that's just around town so far, before even taking the car on a road trip yet thru known dead zones where there's no signal for 20 minutes at a time, and no FM in range (for the same reason - remoteness).

 

[borski]

All of which is having to settle for less, or going through extra effort to download content because the car fails to provide it.

Quite the opposite. You cannot get better quality than FLACs on a USB stick. It is literally superior to any other method of listening on the vehicle. It is, literally, the best possible audio experience (Dolby Atmos notwithstanding, though you can play that via USB too, just not as FLAC).

Compared to just being able to listen to the 100+ channels of content we dependably get without interruption everywhere in the country. Thus why I call it a worse audio experience (for anyone that utilizes that capability, anyway).

That sure does sound like a worse Satellite Radio experience.

Surprises me Lucid wouldn't offer that option in a premium car when it's so common across the auto industry. Especially on a car touted as the ultimate long-distance road-tripper. Audio cutting in and out isn't premium.

I agree audio cutting in and out isn’t premium. I’m less bothered by the lack of Sirius, as I simply don’t use it, and the number of people that do is relatively small (albeit they evidently like it a lot).

When the internet works, the quality of the audio is great, even superior to most cars. But it's mostly dependent on internet connectivity. And so far that's been poor. And that's just around town so far, before even taking the car on a road trip yet thru known dead zones where there's no signal for 20 minutes at a time, and no FM in range (for the same reason - remoteness).

I highly recommend investing in a flash drive. It’s great.

Otherwise, there are satellite radio antennas you may be able to add, but satellite connectivity simply isn’t a feature offered by the car.

 

[eelpout]

AM/FM radio work fine, stored music on your phone works fine, a USB key works fine, etc.

there is no AM band in the Gravity, just the Air.

I'll miss the mountain road weather reports that AM provides, listening to rural radio to get the local community flavor and long late night drives looking for "clear-channel status" stations.

though my wife is fine with that because she hates the audio quality and occasional static whenever I tune to it in our other cars.

 

[dbsb3233]

Quite the opposite. You cannot get better quality than FLACs on a USB stick. It is literally superior to any other method of listening on the vehicle. It is, literally, the best possible audio experience (Dolby Atmos notwithstanding, though you can play that via USB too, just not as FLAC).


That sure does sound like a worse Satellite Radio experience.


I agree audio cutting in and out isn’t premium. I’m less bothered by the lack of Sirius, as I simply don’t use it, and the number of people that do is relatively small (albeit they evidently like it a lot).


I highly recommend investing in a flash drive. It’s great.

Otherwise, there are satellite radio antennas you may be able to add, but satellite connectivity simply isn’t a feature offered by the car.

I wasn't talking about sound quality. I already said that's great in the Gravity. I was talking about being able to get consistent CONTENT rather than cutting in and out because the internet goes in and out. I don't care how good the sound quality is of silence. I care that there IS silence. Which means the Satellite experience is better than streaming-only for what matters most - consistent, dependable content. Unless one doesn't think consistent, dependable content matters, of course.

I have flash drives (who doesn't?), I just don't care to go through the trouble of downloading a hundred of songs and listening to those same ones on a loop. That's what services like SXM are for - having a million songs and other content all nicely categorized and sorted and randomized for us and variety and an easy listening experience. But alas, Lucid doesn't offer an easy listening experience for dependable content (not dependent on iffy internet connections) without doing a bunch or work to download your own content. Gotta do without, which is settling for less.

I get that some people never leave the city and could care less about dead zones. Fine. Lucid could have just made it an option for those that care about that feature. But alas, they didn't seem to care much about easy, dependable audio for road trippers.

 

[dbsb3233]

there is no AM band in the Gravity, just the Air.

I'll miss the mountain road weather reports that AM provides, listening to rural radio to get the local community flavor and long late night drives looking for "clear-channel status" stations.

though my wife is fine with that because she hates the audio quality and occasional static whenever I tune to it in our other cars.

It does have TuneIn Radio and iHeart, so we should be able to get many of those stations IF we can get an internet signal.

When we can't, well, I guess we're just supposed to pass the time humming The Sounds of Silence.

 

[borski]

I wasn't talking about sound quality. I already said that's great in the Gravity. I was talking about being able to get consistent CONTENT rather than cutting in and out because the internet goes in and out. I don't care how good the sound quality is of silence. I care that there IS silence. Which means the Satellite experience is better than streaming-only for what matters most - consistent, dependable content. Unless one doesn't think consistent, dependable content matters, of course.

I have flash drives (who doesn't?), I just don't care to go through the trouble of downloading a hundred of songs and listening to those same ones on a loop. That's what services like SXM are for - having a million songs and other content all nicely categorized and sorted and randomized for us and variety and an easy listening experience. But alas, Lucid doesn't offer an easy listening experience for dependable content (not dependent on iffy internet connections) without doing a bunch or work to download your own content. Gotta do without, which is settling for less.

I get that some people never leave the city and could care less about dead zones. Fine. Lucid could have just made it an option for those that care about that feature. But alas, they didn't seem to care much about easy, dependable audio for road trippers.

Okay.

You could also download music to your phone.

But you’re right, if the only solution to your problem, as you see it, is to have satellite radio via satellite link, then the Gravity does not solve your problem.

 

[borski]

there is no AM band in the Gravity, just the Air.

Fair point, forgot which vehicle we were discussing, my bad.

 

[dbsb3233]

Okay.

You could also download music to your phone.

But you’re right, if the only solution to your problem, as you see it, is to have satellite radio via satellite link, then the Gravity does not solve your problem.

Not the only, just the easiest (which is what providing a premium experience is all about). And the most common, since most manufacturers include it automatically (although I'd be fine if they just made it an upgrade option).

But in the absence of that easiest option, I just want a better internet connection than it has been so far. Hopefully they can improve that. Maybe there's just something wrong with mine that service needs to look at. The area I live in should be well-covered. And the cut-outs I've been experiencing have been mostly random, and often last for 10+ minutes. Not a pattern that suggests an AT&T dead spot. It's gotten worse since 3.4.1 too. Although today is the first day since the update I didn't experience cut-outs, so there's some hope.

If they get the internet working better for daily use, I can work around the road trips another way. Not ideal, but not as big of a pain as it happening nearly every day around town where it likely can't be blamed on AT&T. Actually on road trips, we've started watching TV more anyway (Starlink + Superbox + portable monitor). And I could switch the car wifi to Starlink on those too. I just don't have the Starlink mounted when around home. Gets in the way since it has to be a window mount, but it's worth it on road trips.

Speaking of which, anyone tried getting one of the USB ports to act as an AUDIO IN port from an external device? I tried the other day and it only seems to be looking for a formatted file drive.

 

[tmichael]

Not the only, just the easiest (which is what providing a premium experience is all about). And the most common, since most manufacturers include it automatically (although I'd be fine if they just made it an upgrade option).

But in the absence of that easiest option, I just want a better internet connection than it has been so far. Hopefully they can improve that. Maybe there's just something wrong with mine that service needs to look at. The area I live in should be well-covered. And the cut-outs I've been experiencing have been mostly random, and often last for 10+ minutes. Not a pattern that suggests an AT&T dead spot. It's gotten worse since 3.4.1 too. Although today is the first day since the update I didn't experience cut-outs, so there's some hope.

If they get the internet working better for daily use, I can work around the road trips another way. Not ideal, but not as big of a pain as it happening nearly every day around town where it likely can't be blamed on AT&T. Actually on road trips, we've started watching TV more anyway (Starlink + Superbox + portable monitor). And I could switch the car wifi to Starlink on those too. I just don't have the Starlink mounted when around home. Gets in the way since it has to be a window mount, but it's worth it on road trips.

Speaking of which, anyone tried getting one of the USB ports to act as an AUDIO IN port from an external device? I tried the other day and it only seems to be looking for a formatted file drive.

Which window to you mount the Starlink to?

 

[dbsb3233]

Which window to you mount the Starlink to?

2nd row, with the suction cup mount. Dash (thru windshield) and roof glass don't work (metallic coating). Tried the little triangle window in the 3rd row and got a really weak signal and 1/10th normal speed, but I assume that would cut out once the car starts moving and turning. Plus there's no easy way to mount it there anyway.

Even tried the frunk just in case that was a surprise material, but nope.

So looks like 2nd row behind driver is the choice. Not as ideal as an skyward angle, but seems to still get a pretty good signal. I'll clip the power cord (with some slack to open the door) to the rear air vent and plug in the 2nd row 120v.

It works in my driveway and doing a short drive in the neighborhood, but the real test will be a road trip.

 

[prgarg]

When we can't, well, I guess we're just supposed to pass the time humming The Sounds of Silence.

"hello darkness my old friend" is what I find myself humming every time I attempt to use the blind spot cameras at night

 

[EVCar]

Separate auto unlock from auto lock, just like in Lucid Air.
Unlink Creep from Hold, just like in Lucid Air.