Removal of Alexa in 2.4.x software

[borski]

So this morning I had my kids try the Siri and Siri couldn’t pick up their voice so supposed we are back to square 1. If anyone has young kids who can control the music could they provide some advice they like to listen to “Tate McRae” etc

Record them making their favorite requests onto a tape recorder and then play it for LA when needed, from the front seat.

I’m a big fan of track 6

 

[blueice89]

If we think Lucid will build a better Alexa, who are we kidding ourselves to? Alexa took years to build and billions dollars. I think current investment in Alexa is higher than current market cap lucid … bring back Alexa I hope people write to lucid to reconsider

 

[fisheral]

I can report that Hey Lucid will not control the massage function.

 

[Haggy]

So this morning I had my kids try the Siri and Siri couldn’t pick up their voice so supposed we are back to square 1. If anyone has young kids who can control the music could they provide some advice they like to listen to “Tate McRae” etc

Get them each a smartphone and some ear buds. Then encourage them to sing along with the music.

 

[borski]

If we think Lucid will build a better Alexa, who are we kidding ourselves to? Alexa took years to build and billions dollars. I think current investment in Alexa is higher than current market cap lucid … bring back Alexa I hope people write to lucid to reconsider

I don’t want Lucid to build Alexa.

Alexa was built well over a decade ago, and bought by Amazon in 2013. It is meant to be general-purpose, and was among the first of its kind.

Things have progressed since then. LLMs now proliferate, and we have technology we didn’t have then. Rebuilding Alexa today would not take a decade or billions of dollars; just like rebuilding an old Tesla Roadster doesn’t take a decade or billions of dollars. At scale? Sure. But Lucid doesn’t have Amazon’s scale problem.

Moreover, Lucid Assistant is a domain-specific assistant. That is, it knows about your car, understands the manual, can tell you how to do the things it doesn’t know how to do itself yet, and so on. As a result, Lucid can specifically focus its capabilities to those related to the car and home, and not adding eggs to your Amazon Fresh grocery cart.

From Wikipedia: “Hoped-for revenue never materialized from people using voice ordering for Amazon products or services from partners such as Domino’s and Uber. Alexa does not play audio ads, and display ads were relatively unsuccessful. In 2019 an all-hands crisis meeting was called to address the issue, and a hiring freeze was instated. In 2022, with the division losing several billion dollars per quarter, the company started laying off Alexa employees en masse. Echo Show devices began serving hidable ads for Alexa skills and other products in December 2022, followed by ads promoting shopping for specific products on Amazon (which respawn quicker) in November 2023.”

As a result of the Show now showing ads, it has been moved to a non-prominent place in my kitchen and dining room and we basically never use the screen anymore.

Lucid doesn’t need to make money from LA. Amazon *does* need to make money from Alexa, and they aren’t. That matters a lot. It’s living on borrowed time, and now Lucid doesn’t have to.

 

[Bobby]

If we think Lucid will build a better Alexa, who are we kidding ourselves to? Alexa took years to build and billions dollars. I think current investment in Alexa is higher than current market cap lucid … bring back Alexa I hope people write to lucid to reconsider

Full disclosure: poster works for Amazon.

 

[blueice89]

Full disclosure: poster works for Amazon.

Fair

 

[SaratogaLefty]

Fair

Why are we still wasting time on this subject. Alexa is gone and won't be coming back. Get over it and move on!!

 

[Haggy]

From Wikipedia: “Hoped-for revenue never materialized from people using voice ordering for Amazon products or services from partners such as Domino’s and Uber. Alexa does not play audio ads, and display ads were relatively unsuccessful. In 2019 an all-hands crisis meeting was called to address the issue, and a hiring freeze was instated. In 2022, with the division losing several billion dollars per quarter, the company started laying off Alexa employees en masse. Echo Show devices began serving hidable ads for Alexa skills and other products in December 2022, followed by ads promoting shopping for specific products on Amazon (which respawn quicker) in November 2023.”

Amazon does make money from Alexa more indirectly. I might not use Alexa to place orders, but there are many Alexa compatible devices that I bought on Amazon that I wouldn't have bought otherwise. Other things like major appliances and cars that have Alexa aren't things that I bought through Amazon, but if there are licensing fees, there's revenue. I could open my garage door from the Lucid because I bought a device on Amazon, only because Lucid supported Alexa and so did my house.

Lucid doesn’t need to make money from LA. Amazon *does* need to make money from Alexa, and they aren’t. That matters a lot. It’s living on borrowed time, and now Lucid doesn’t have to.

True, but if the argument is that Alexa isn't working for Amazon because they aren't making money, there's the argument that unless Hey Lucid increases sales, Lucid isn't making money from it and has no incentive. The reality is that they do have incentive simply by having better cars, even if it's not a make or break feature for a buying decision. I don't see motivation for Lucid to add a lot of AI things, but it will be a moot point for many people when Android Auto is in place.

It could use improvement with car specific things such as navigation, audio and phone integration (including messaging and calls) but Lucid has acknowledged that they need to up their game in software in general.

 

[plnj]

I have no preference yet between Alexa and Lucid. I have Googe Pixel 7 (android) and subscribe to Amazon Prime Music. Just trying to figure how I would listen to Amazon Prime Music after the latest update. Heh Lucid seems great for everything other than music.

 

[Bobby]

I have no preference yet between Alexa and Lucid. I have Googe Pixel 7 (android) and subscribe to Amazon Prime Music. Just trying to figure how I would listen to Amazon Prime Music after the latest update. Heh Lucid seems great for everything other than music.

Currently, you have several choices:
-Through Bluetooth using your phone
-Through CarPlay via an adapter
-Wait for android auto

 

[scal_air]

Currently, you have several choices:
-Through Bluetooth using your phone
-Through CarPlay via an adapter
-Wait for android auto

They should consider adding Amazon Music to their apps. If they don't have space, there are several less popular apps (TuneIn, iHeart radio, PocketCasts) that it could replace. I use PocketCasts and I'm sure others use the other apps I mentioned, but I'm guessing more people use Amazon Music....

 

[skomarla]

They should consider adding Amazon Music to their apps. If they don't have space, there are several less popular apps (TuneIn, iHeart radio, PocketCasts) that it could replace. I use PocketCasts and I'm sure others use the other apps I mentioned, but I'm guessing more people use Amazon Music....

don't take away iHeartRadio because the FM antenna on this thing absolutely sucks.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I have no preference yet between Alexa and Lucid. I have Googe Pixel 7 (android) and subscribe to Amazon Prime Music. Just trying to figure how I would listen to Amazon Prime Music after the latest update. Heh Lucid seems great for everything other than music.

I think this is the only valid complaint about the loss of Alexa. The good thing is there are the workarounds @Bobby listed and I think that solutions-minded approach is best, BUT if I was someone whose music source was mostly Amazon music and the car suddenly couldn’t do it anymore, I’d be annoyed. However the car NEVER had Amazon music app, only voice control, so at best the implementation of Amazon music in the car was poor to begin with, so you’re not losing that much with Alexa going bye bye.

 

[skomarla]

I think this is the only valid complaint about the loss of Alexa. The good thing is there are the workarounds @Bobby listed and I think that solutions-minded approach is best, BUT if I was someone whose music source was mostly Amazon music and the car suddenly couldn’t do it anymore, I’d be annoyed. However the car NEVER had Amazon music app, only voice control, so at best the implementation of Amazon music in the car was poor to begin with, so you’re not losing that much with Alexa going bye bye.

Agree and also disagree

The implementation of music playback UX in the car is poor to begin with. Amazon music with Alexa let those folks on amazon music enjoy the better sound quality of SS Pro. that is no longer realized and not available through the alternate mechanism.

I hope they fix the music playback UX across the board
they either add amazon music as a support choice (imaging that.. wow.. choice for the consumer) or get newest apple car play work with hi res and spatial audio.

those two would keep me content on the music front. Tidal might be good but also suffers from that same poor UX

 

[plnj]

Currently, you have several choices:
-Through Bluetooth using your phone
-Through CarPlay via an adapter
-Wait for android auto

I must be doing something wrong. I have been trying the bluetooth approach but it is not working for me:
Song does not play, but when I move far away from car it starts playing on the phone.
Settings on Lucid shows Pixel Pro 7 connected
On the phone for bluetooth it shows Lucid Air 552 active. It also shows also Lucid 08552 connected - not sure what that means

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Agree and also disagree

The implementation of music playback UX in the car is poor to begin with. Amazon music with Alexa let those folks on amazon music enjoy the better sound quality of SS Pro. that is no longer realized and not available through the alternate mechanism.

I hope they fix the music playback UX across the board
they either add amazon music as a support choice (imaging that.. wow.. choice for the consumer) or get newest apple car play work with hi res and spatial audio.

those two would keep me content on the music front. Tidal might be good but also suffers from that same poor UX

Yeah Tidal’s interface in the car app is annoying as it just plays anything you touch rather than directing you into a submenu of songs. And the search function is garbage, very limited and doesn’t show 80% of the stuff you can find by searching on your phone. While I may be incorrect I do think there are plans for native Apple Music like what Rivian just did (although hopefully not with a monthly fee, I think that’s really crappy you have to pay for Apple Music subscription and then pay again to use the music in the Rivian). I might be wrong though about Apple Music in the Lucid. CarPlay can now do Dolby Atmos as of like 1 month ago, but the auto makers have to implement it first, not sure who has done this yet.

 

[blueice89]

Did anyone actually dislike how the system was before this update lol. Updates for the sake of updates no bueno — listen to the customer save Alexa

 

[Tâm]

Did anyone actually dislike how the system was before this update lol. Updates for the sake of updates no bueno — listen to the customer save Alexa

I don't like Alexa. Too intrusive. I had to log in Amazon credentials in order to issue a verbal command to go home.

That's just nuts!

I like the new and car-specific verbal command from Lucid.

After 10 years of losing billions, It's justified that Amazon has killed the Alexa system.

Please stop beating up the dead horse.

 

[coma24]

Did anyone actually dislike how the system was before this update lol. Updates for the sake of updates no bueno — listen to the customer save Alexa

I was not an Alexa user. I prefer the new agent and appreciate that it's fully under Lucid's control. As others have pointed out, AI has moved forward (you might have noticed) in recent years. There's no need to be wedded to a legacy platform like that. The ability to run a voice recognition system purely in-vehicle (if not now, then with the requisite hardware upgrades in the future) is the way.