Tired of lack of Android support

[HC_79]

That again leaves incompetence. Defend it all you want (and you will continue to defend it) It's ridiculous and there is absolutely NO excuse. And you are right...I don't believe your assertion. The fact is...they are losing sales because of their incompetence relative to this issue.

Best selling car in its segment and number 3 in its segment when ICE is included in the US.

Android Automotive clearly isn’t the be all and end all. Rivian and Tesla seem to be doing well without it also

 

[borski]

That again leaves incompetence. Defend it all you want (and you will continue to defend it) It's ridiculous and there is absolutely NO excuse. And you are right...I don't believe your assertion. The fact is...they are losing sales because of their incompetence relative to this issue.

Okay. You must be right. That’s fine. Have a lovely weekend.

 

[WhistleKing30]

They really aren't separate issues. It's comical to me that some keep finding reasons to say this isn't a big deal and stop banging Lucid. I was assured that Android auto would be delivered with my GT in June of 2022. There are really only three options when evaluating why this hasn't been delivered:
1- the company is/was dishonest;
2- the company is incompetent. Other car companies have been able to deliver Android Auto;
3- It has not been prioritized by Lucid.
I enjoy the car. The lack of android support and Lucids lack of transparency on the matter have convinced me to choose the Lyriq over the Gravity. I love the look and exclusivity of the gravity but I cannot stomach the management of Lucid and their conduct on this issue.

Unfortunately there is a fourth possibility which in my experience is far more likely.
Even with the best intention, expectation and planned prioritization, sometimes deadlines simply cannot be met. Having worked in an IT function with a major OEM myself I can no longer count on two hands the times we were certain a product feature would be released "within weeks", only to be delivered months or even years later. It was never dishonesty. Hardly was it incompetence. Most often was it because of spill-overs from unexpected critical developments.

In one week an unexpected development can hijack the resources for months to come. An update on the CCS standard. A mandatory recall or service bulletin from a tier-one supplier. Overseas homologation process being stuck. A technical IPR challenge from a competitor. A colleague leaving, taking with him essential knowledge... this could be just a typical week at the office. And this was when working for a "traditional" OEM with a strong reputation.

It's a valid concern and point of frustration. But unless we hear from Lucid themselves, my opinion is that it's quite pointless to speculate on the causes.

 

[Mufasta]

Given the history of Lucid, they will never address their failure. Peter is not very good at communication. So, absent that, all we can do is speculate. It's relevant, as owners like me, consider their competence when we consider buying another Lucid..

 

[DeaneG]

Given the history of Lucid, they will never address their failure. Peter is not very good at communication. So, absent that, all we can do is speculate. It's relevant, as owners like me, consider their competence when we consider buying another Lucid..

Peter is no longer with Lucid.

 

[Mufasta]

That's good news. Thank you for sharing. There is hope. He built an incredible car, I don't think he should have run a company.

 

[borski]

Unfortunately there is a fourth possibility which in my experience is far more likely.
Even with the best intention, expectation and planned prioritization, sometimes deadlines simply cannot be met. Having worked in an IT function with a major OEM myself I can no longer count on two hands the times we were certain a product feature would be released "within weeks", only to be delivered months or even years later. It was never dishonesty. Hardly was it incompetence. Most often was it because of spill-overs from unexpected critical developments.

In one week an unexpected development can hijack the resources for months to come. An update on the CCS standard. A mandatory recall or service bulletin from a tier-one supplier. Overseas homologation process being stuck. A technical IPR challenge from a competitor. A colleague leaving, taking with him essential knowledge... this could be just a typical week at the office. And this was when working for a "traditional" OEM with a strong reputation.

It's a valid concern and point of frustration. But unless we hear from Lucid themselves, my opinion is that it's quite pointless to speculate on the causes.

Precisely. Thank you for saying this better than I did.

 

[borski]

Peter is no longer with Lucid.

Well, he should've communicated that better, apparently.

 

[Haggy]

It is fair to say Lucid has been incompetent with Android Auto. Three years of promises of AA is a joke at this point. I am another SUV buyer who decided not to buy the Gravity because of this issue.

It's frustrating that it's not there. Whether or not it's a big deal comes down to the individual car owner. It's completely understandable why it might cost them sales. Personally, I can wait. But I had an early reservation and didn't buy the Air until a bit over a year ago, when they finally had enough of other promised features that I needed. I didn't need a new car in the interim so it didn't cost them a sale. But it easily could have.

The lack of certain features did cost them a Gravity sale for my family, and the missing feature was the availability of the vehicle itself. It all comes down to timing. Lucid had a choice. They could have waited for AA to be available and held off on selling the vehicles. They could have sold them and said they had no idea when AA would be available. Or they could have sold them and said when they reasonably believed it would be available. They went with the latter. They turned out to be wrong. That's on them.

With other features, they went with the middle ground. For example, I know that they are going to deliver more features with Dream Drive Pro, but they wouldn't tell me what or when. I didn't buy it until it had enough of the features that they had explicitly promised. The lack of a road map cost them sales, but it would have been worse had they promised more specific major features that didn't show up when promised.

I also have what is literally one of the first Teslas with Autopilot. I ordered the car before the feature was announced. They could have held off on the hardware until they had the software working. Had they done that, I would have needed to have traded the car in if I wanted certain features. The delayed software frustrated people, but getting hardware on a car without the software that uses it was a net positive for me in the long run. I ended up with a better car over time for no extra cost. However, with FSD, they did promise things, but not deliver until almost a decade later. That was an extreme screw up, and they did know better.

Some approaches are terrible, some are bad in hindsight but might have seemed right at the time, and all can be positive or negative depending on the buyer. If the native software had a few more features that I want, I might not care about AA at all. It did enough at the time I bought it that not having AA was workable, and knowing that I'll have it later is a plus.

 

[mikecronis]

It's my opinion a car needs no infotainment system whatsoever; it's just gravy. Check out the infotainment system on a 2006 Lotus Elise for instance.
The Air drives well. Mine has 1111Hp and can accomplish 0.92 (or greater) lateral g's on the standard skid-pad.
Acceleration is impressive with no required 20-minute setup "Chetah" mode Tesla employs.
10 second quarter mile. 0-100 mph in 5.3 seconds. 0-170 mph in 16 seconds.
Nothing else matters.
Somehow, this has air conditioning and heat at no extra cost!
Somehow the leather seats are comfortable, heated and cooled!
Somehow it has Alcantara headliners!
Somehow its interior is aesthetically pleasing.
Somehow it has ample trunk and frunk space than any SUV.
Somehow it can drive and park itself if you want it to.
Somehow its range is 450-520 miles without charging.
Somehow it only takes a very short amount of time to recharge if needed.

There is no other car that does this.

 

[DeaneG]

It's my opinion a car needs no infotainment system whatsoever; it's just gravy. Check out the infotainment system on a 2006 Lotus Elise for instance.

I need a car with great navigation capability. I'm buying a tool rather than a toy.

 

[mikecronis]

I need a car with great navigation capability. I'm buying a tool rather than a toy.

Back about 10 years ago we used maps or memorized our route. I used to be a pizza-delivery kid in the 1980's. We'd have to mentally plan our routes from a map on the wall.
After that in the 1990's, I'd look at MapQuest. Some folks would print-out the instructions if they had goldfish memory.
I guess if you were a cab driver and new in town, phone-navigation would be handy if you didn't have a physical folded map in your glovebox that cost $2 from a gas station.
I often drive without a phone anyway. I work in a classified area that doesn't allow phones within 1000 feet of the facility so, Pixel Watch or flagship Google phone just stays home. Shrug.
My whole professional career has been zero-tech allowed in the areas, so I've just accepted them as toys that stay at home and don't rely on them ever. Meh.
The onboard Nav is okay but fairly unnecessary if you have a physical, folded map or know where you're going.
Before all that, we used the Sun and stars. Luckily we have glass roofs for stellar cartography. You'll have to park to properly use that sextant.

 

[DeaneG]

Back about 10 years ago we used maps or memorized our route. I used to be a pizza-delivery kid in the 1980's. We'd have to mentally plan our routes from a map on the wall.
After that in the 1990's, I'd look at MapQuest. Some folks would print-out the instructions if they had goldfish memory.
I guess if you were a cab driver and new in town, phone-navigation would be handy if you didn't have a physical folded map in your glovebox that cost $2 from a gas station.
I often drive without a phone anyway. I work in a classified area that doesn't allow phones within 1000 feet of the facility so, Pixel Watch or flagship Google phone just stays home. Shrug.
My whole professional career has been zero-tech allowed in the areas, so I've just accepted them as toys that stay at home and don't rely on them ever. Meh.
The onboard Nav is okay but fairly unnecessary if you have a physical, folded map or know where you're going.
Before all that, we used the Sun and stars. Luckily we have glass roofs for stellar cartography. You'll have to park to properly use that sextant.

We go to a lot of places that we've never been before. Many don't have addresses.
HERE maps fell on its face for me again today. It is SOOO tempting to just go to the Polestar dealer, pay $600 a month for a P3, and be done with this.

 

[mikecronis]

I understand your frustration. I've been in the Polestar 2. I found handling, acceleration, driver feedback, steering feel, all to be lacking. Nav system was not impressive to me. You should try it out first. The Tesla Model S Plaid was probably the 2nd worst car I've ever driven next to a Prius Taxi. All of these opinions are based on handling, speed, acceleration, lateral g-forces, fit-and-finish, and road-feel for pure driving "enjoyment". When I myself drive, it's FOR the drive experience. A Lotus Elise or Ariel Atom are good examples, or a Caterham 7. The destination is irrelevant most of the time, or a secondary goal.

As for your Nav issue:

An option is to select your location of choice (lat.,lon.) in your favorite flavor phone App and send it through Bluetooth.
Apple Carplay would allow on-screen Nav from that App if integrated.
Android can simulate Carplay using a data-stealing Chinese adapter or just use Bluetooth for audio-only Nav/Music and display the on-board Nav as a reference. AA to show up eventually.

If you purchased a 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera Nero, 1948 Ferrari Barchetta, 1990 ZR1 Corvette, or 1967 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, what would you use for digital-Nav?

I do not believe a Chinese SUV would satisfy for long. Current stock price is a dollar and dropping for obvious reasons, but there is a Polestar sub-culture and you can hack some of the bits to European specs if you're savvy. I've known owners with mixed feelings, your results may vary.

I think an SUV is made for someone who "doesn't like driving" and "needs their cup-holders". Everyone's different. The Lucid Air Dream Performance and Sapphire are probably the best cars ever made in my opinion, my primary selections have been sports cars, exotic or otherwise throughout my life, and a few Cadillacs; some dozen or so motorcycles of various design.

 

[DeaneG]

...I've been in the Polestar 2. I found handling, acceleration, driver feedback, steering feel, all to be lacking. Nav system was not impressive to me. ...

An option is to select your location of choice (lat.,lon.) in your favorite flavor phone App and send it through Bluetooth.
Apple Carplay would allow on-screen Nav from that App if integrated.
Android can simulate Carplay using a data-stealing Chinese adapter or just use Bluetooth for audio-only Nav/Music and display the on-board Nav as a reference. AA to show up eventually.

If you purchased a 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera Nero, 1948 Ferrari Barchetta, 1990 ZR1 Corvette, or 1967 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, what would you use for digital-Nav?

I think an SUV is made for someone who "doesn't like driving" and "needs their cup-holders". ...

I appreciate your perspective. The Air is the best driving sedan I've ever owned. But I'll be switching back to an SUV because I often need the ground clearance and a larger rectangular trunk opening. Different tools for different needs. A Torx driver vs a sanding block.

I've tried many different methods of sending destinations to the Air, and they've sporadically failed in a few different ways. For today's frustration, HERE maps has placed my destination POI about half a mile from its correct location. HEREwego online will let me correct the POI's phone number and website address (didn't know it had them), but not its location. It's a 10-second fix in Google Maps and the results would be live in my other car within a few hours.

GPS didn't exist when I owned a 246GTS (#07842). I didn't have a radio installed in my 330GTS (#10599, number 51 of 100), as you wouldn't have been able to hear it over the V12 anyway. For both it and my Maserati gransport spyder, I just left my cell phone lying on the passenger seat running Google Maps and cranked up as loud as it would go. Not ideal but good enough.

But I need to stick to just one vehicle now (my wife has filled our third garage space with treasures), and it'll have to be a Gravity or other SUV. I have driven the Polestar 3. It's a completely different animal than the Polestar 2. Driving dynamics are great, aside from a lack of steering feedback, and it feels roomy and comfortable. Not in the same class (or price point) as the Gravity, but at least it can navigate its way out of the driveway. If I can find a location in Google Maps on my phone or desktop, I'm 100% confident the car will direct me to the same place.

 

[BS8899]

Best selling car in its segment and number 3 in its segment when ICE is included in the US.

Android Automotive clearly isn’t the be all and end all. Rivian and Tesla seem to be doing well without it also

True that AA is not the "Be-all-and-end-all". I am sure you know the difference is, both Rivian and Tesla have a lot more resources and history in auto-SW development than Lucid.

I can't speak for either. I never own or driven a Tesla. But I own a 2023-R1S.

In short, I am not necessarily crazy about R1S's SW....but Rivian's SW actually work and relatively bug-free. While I don't particularly love Rivian's "high-density" info on their UI, I have no real complaints about Rivian's SW. They regularly update their SW. They have very few snafus like Lucid in releasing OTAs and then quick find compatibility problems and issues with different HW/SW/FW variants and scramble to release even more OTAs to patch. Rivian OTA are relatively regular, they work, and well-documented.

Do I wish Rivian also adopt AA/CarPlay? YES! It is not a question of whether Rivian can do a good job. They have, and they will likely continue to do so. That said, most people have Apple or Android phones. They rather stay with and evolve with what they are familiar with in interfaces rather than every car adopting a different approach.