Lucid Air has software issues

What’s new? EVs are bricking themselves in the middle of the road. So in other words, nothing’s new. But now Lucid Motors can be added to the list of funky happenings. For those who don’t know, Lucid is a higher-end EV start-up company. And admittedly their model, the Air, is striking in both appearance & performance. But as more of these 6-figure Lucid Airs finally get delivered to customers, some owners are experiencing concerning problems right outta the gate.

What kind of problems you ask?

1) A complete loss of power while driving – yes with plenty of range on tap. Or 2) A majority loss of power, where the vehicle short-circuits & go into a limp mode of sorts. 3) Peculiar issues where drivers put the car in DRIVE, and go backwards.

Now these previously mentioned issues are relatively rare… but so are Lucids. Only having a few issues is one thing. But only having a few issues, when you’ve only made a few cars is something else. I believe Lucid delivered something like 360 cars in the first quarter of 2022?

Lucid has apparently sent 19 over-the-air updates in the first half of 2022. That would be 19 updates in 26 weeks. And this is foreshadowing what the future looks like in the era of cars being electronic > mechanical.

I know people can’t seem to get their head around this…

But a car is not a phone. A phone can be glitchy… because it’s not a 4,600lb car going 80mph. In my opinion, the automotive industry is way too established to be having these kinds of embarrassing & amateur goof-ups. It shouldn’t be happening. And it’s not just Lucid – it’s Tesla, GM, Ford, VAG… all of ‘em. I know the market is trying to transition to EVs, and with that will be growing pains. But the transition is happening too unnaturally fast. EV manufacturers are putting peoples’ safety at risk, in order to be first to market. And people are buying it, in order to be the first on the block.

An internal combustion car can also fail in many ways – I get that.

But an internal combustion car is primarily mechanical… so there are certain truths that we can trust. Like… moisture won’t make your car go backwards instead of forwards. It’s the unpredictable & uncontrollable nature of EVs that concerns me. And the lack of warning signs before a malfunction. That’s the issue. (Well… and the cost, & the production methods, & the seemingly forced agenda, & how they can be controlled over-the-air… but this are separate concerns I guess.)

Lord knows I love to drive cars that are not safe by today’s standards. But for me personally, I feel safer when I have a sense of control. When the driver has command over the machine… not the other way around.