Lucid’s Infotainment System Is Reinvention Done Right: Review

Automakers go to great lengths to try and reinvent their infotainment systems. Sometimes it works, other times… not so much. Fledgling brands are especially bullish on the prospect of introducing customers to an entirely new way of interacting with their cars, tossing out the old guard in favor of something new.

Lucid debuted its new operating system—simply dubbed Lucid UX—in 2021 with the arrival of the Air sedan. In the same vein as Rivan and Tesla, it too ditches most old-school controls in favor of more screens. But in Lucid’s case, it all works exceptionally well. Just a few things still need ironing out.

Lucid’s user interface is really pretty. It consists of a “floating” curved glass display with 34.0 inches worth of screen real estate extending from the driver’s side to the center of the dash. Within that display are three functional screens: One tiny screen to the left of the steering wheel, a digital cluster directly in the driver’s view, and of course, a central touchscreen.

The tiniest screen to the left of the steering wheel offers quick access to a few basic functions, like opening the charging port, controlling the headlights, or defogging the windshield. It’s a nice thing to have if you need to access any of those in a pinch.

The digital instrument cluster is minimalist but lovely. It shows a basic speedometer, driving modes, traffic sign recognition, a trip computer—and that’s about it. It’s not super configurable, but it doesn’t need to be.

Photo by: Jeff Perez / Motor1

Pros: Looks Pretty, Graphics Are Crisp & Clear, Most Options Require Just One Or Two Clicks

The center touchscreen—in a world of monolith displays—is small. But it works well. The minimalist home screen design shows you what you need to see and nothing more. Weather and navigation sit front and center, with your favorite satellite radio stations on the lower right-hand side of the screen. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto do come standard, but given the awkward curved nature of the display, the projection takes up a much smaller surface area than I’d like. It looks awkward.

A few hard buttons sit beneath the center touchscreen—including a volume knob, praise be, and HVAC controls. Most everything else is a touchscreen affair. That would be damning if it all weren’t so easy to use; the graphics are crisp, clean, and modern, while the font is big, bold, and easy to read. You’ll have no trouble finding what you need while on the move.

Photo by: Jeff Perez / Motor1

Photo by: Jeff Perez / Motor1

Photo by: Jeff Perez / Motor1

But wait, there’s a fourth display in the front compartment. Just below that row of hard buttons sits a 12.5-inch iPad-like vertical display. This is the screen you’ll interact with most frequently. It adjusts the seats, changes the drive modes, calibrates the regenerative braking levels, and allows you to dig into vehicle settings with a quick-access menu at the base of the screen. There’s even a fixed brightness adjuster on the left-hand side—something too few cars offer these days—and the ability to fold the screen up completely, exposing a large cargo hold for smartphones or keys behind it.

Driving the Lucid Air for the first time, you will have to fiddle with the screen to adjust the steering wheel and mirrors. I still prefer hard buttons here. But once you do have your ideal steering wheel and mirror positions, you can set it and forget it. The Lucid Air saves your driver preferences every time you set off.

Photo by: Jeff Perez / Motor1

Cons: Still Not Enough Buttons, Buggy, Some Overly Sensitive Safety Features

But for other things, buttons still reign supreme. There’s no manual handle for the glovebox, it’s a button on-screen. There’s no hard control for the heated seats, you have to click the seating adjustment option on-screen. And there are no fixed controls for the headlights, the trunk, the frunk, or the charging port. Everything is on screen. Mildly annoying.

Touch functionality is also hit-and-miss. In most cases, it works flawlessly; Lucid’s infotainment system responds with the speed and preciseness of a modern smartphone the majority of the time. But in one instance, the lower screen froze entirely. I fiddled with it for a few minutes before folding it up and forgetting about it. Some bugs still clearly need fixing.

The voice command system can help alleviate some of those issues with its “Hey, Lucid” function. You can say, “Hey, Lucid, take me to the nearest charging station,” or “What’s the temperature tomorrow,” and the responses are mostly seamless. But as with most modern in-car voice command systems, Lucid is always listening, and that means sometimes it will activate when you don’t want it to. It was so sensitive that it even activated during a podcast.

Photo by: Jeff Perez / Motor1

Photo by: Jeff Perez / Motor1

Equally sensitive are Lucid’s driver monitoring systems (which you can turn off via the settings in the lower touchscreen, thankfully). Take your eyes off the road for more than two seconds and the Air will quickly tell you to focus up. More than a few times the car yelled and beeped at me while I was messing with the lower touchscreen. Shut up.

Otherwise, most of the other safety systems are excellent. The rear parking camera is crystal clear, as is the overhead 360-degree camera. Lucid even shows you how far away you are from an object when parking with inches projected on-screen. That’s a pretty nifty thing to have.

On this base Pure model, everything mentioned comes standard, including navigation and the aforementioned safety equipment. Satellite radio is free for three months before you have to subscribe, and the online navigation system is only free for the first four years of ownership. After that, Lucid says you will have to pay a subscription fee—though the company doesn’t specify how much.

All in all, though, Lucid’s infotainment system is excellent. Sure, I’d still prefer more hard buttons and there are still clearly some bugs that need working out, but for the most part, I had no issue using the Air’s UX throughout the week. If you’re going to try and reinvent the infotainment system, this is how it’s done.

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Jeff Perez / Motor1