Lucid Motors‘ senior vice president of engineering and software told Wall Street analysts that the company has overhauled how it develops and releases software after months of customer complaints that marred the launch of its Gravity SUV.
Emad Dlala said he is “very confident” the upcoming midsize platform will deliver a competitive software experience from day one.
“Well, of course, we are a company that’s evolving, and also our appreciation of software complexity,” Dlala stated during a Q&A session at the company’s first Investor Day in New York.
“But as you’ve seen in the past three months, our evolution of addressing some of these issues has been super positive, and our customers very happy with the progress we’ve made,” the SVP added.
Dlala is one of only two members of Lucid‘s original leadership team still at the company.
The other one is Derek Jenkins, the EV maker’s Senior Vice President of Design and Brand , who said this week he has been working on the mid-size platform for the last two and a half years.
Dlala described a series of structural changes to the software organisation, including increased automation of testing, new release processes, and the development of parallel work streams.
He also referenced “significant changes in our leadership” that interim CEO Marc Winterhoff had previously disclosed.
Dlala began overseeing software and product last November, when the management decided to let go Eric Bach.
“The lessons absolutely learned — now we increase in our certain capabilities, in our automation of testing, introducing renewal processes, how we release software,” Dlala said.
“I’m very confident about midsize software to be very, very competitive,” the executive added.
He concluded by invoking the company’s motto: “My point to the team is that we need to be better than the best. There is no compromise.”
Nine Months of Software Struggles
Dlala’s remarks come after what has been one of the most turbulent chapters in Lucid‘s history.
The Gravity SUV began reaching customers in last year with software that was not ready for production.
Owners immediately reported key fob recognition failures, frozen screens, navigation malfunctions, and climate control glitches.
The issues were documented extensively on owner forums, Reddit, and by prominent automotive YouTubers.
Out of Spec Reviews titled its assessment “The Best Driving SUV Crippled by Software Annoyances.”
Lucid released its first targeted fix in September with OTA update 3.3.1, which addressed key fob connectivity but initially required a service centre visit to complete.
In October, the company enabled wireless key fob firmware updates through the mobile app, and VP of Communications Nick Twork announced that the upcoming 3.3.5 update would deliver “a significant reduction in ‘key not detected’ alerts.”
By December, the problems had not gone away.
New complaints went viral on Reddit and X, with one owner documenting HVAC screeching, false seatbelt alerts, and repeated key fob failures during a four-hour drive home after taking delivery of a new Gravity Grand Touring, as reported by EV.
The OTA 3.3.20 update, released on December 13, addressed system startup time, key fob detection, NFC card authentication, instrument cluster flickering, camera stability, navigation reliability, and climate control fan noise.
In January, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a (non-physical) recall covering approximately 3,900 Gravity vehicles for a software bug that could prevent the rearview camera image from displaying when shifted into reverse.
The fix was delivered via over-the-air update.
Leadership Purge
Behind the scenes, the software organisation was being rebuilt.
On November 5, 2025, Lucid announced that chief engineer Eric Bach had departed after a decade at the company, along with VP of Engineering James Hawkins.
The same day, Dlala — previously SVP of Powertrain — was promoted to oversee all product development including vehicle engineering, digital systems, and software.
Lucid said he would “drive Lucid‘s technology leadership, lead vehicle development, improve cost efficiency and manufacturability, and advance Lucid‘s software-defined vehicle architectures.”
At CES in January, Winterhoff disclosed the scale of the overhaul.
“I basically replaced the whole software leadership team,” the interim CEO told reporters in a briefing covered by InsideEVs.
A Lucid spokesperson confirmed the number of departures was “more than a handful” but declined to provide an exact figure.
Winterhoff said at CES that the Gravity would be “over the hump” on software issues by the end of January, or “at the latest, the end of March.”
He called the situation “sometimes embarrassing,” noting the irony that Lucid had built a vehicle capable of adding 200 miles of range in just over 10 minutes but could not reliably detect a key fob.
Bach subsequently filed a lawsuit against Lucid alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, and retaliation, claiming an HR executive had referred to him using a slur related to his German nationality.
Lucid called the claims “absurd.”
The company has lost 12 C-suite officers or vice presidents in under two years, including its CEO, CFO, general counsel, and most of its senior leadership, as exclusively reported by EV.
The Turning Point
The trajectory began to shift with OTA 3.4.0, released on January 29 — the most complete software update Lucid had ever pushed.
The update reworked key fob recognition, introduced a see-through vehicle display, enhanced audio controls, and delivered dozens of refinements across infotainment, navigation, charging, and thermal management.
Lucid recommended owners replace their key fob batteries and offered to do so at service centres at no cost.
Early owner feedback was markedly more positive than any prior update.
State of Charge‘s Tom Moloughney, who spoke directly with Dlala about the release, said the update “resolved multiple issues and made the infotainment much smoother.”
Multiple owners on the Lucid Owners forum reported that the “key not detected” alerts had been eliminated for the first time.
Dlala personally engaged with Engineering Explained‘s Jason Fenske, designating him as Lucid’s “first Journalist Insider” and outlining plans for the UX 3.0 overhaul — a complete redesign of the user interface expected by early fall 2026, as reported by EV.
CarPlay Arrives This Week
On Wednesday, Lucid announced it was rolling out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to the Gravity through OTA update UX 3.5 — closing a gap that had left the SUV without two of its most requested features since launch.
The rollout began Thursday for North American owners, with Middle East and European markets scheduled for late March. Both wireless and wired connections are supported.
The update also introduces remote start via the mobile app, enabling keyless driving, and a new voice engine for improved phone call quality.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will come standard on all new Gravity vehicles going forward. The Air sedan already supports both.
Two-Year Feature Roadmap
At Thursday’s Investor Day, Lucid presented its most detailed software roadmap to date across three layers — infotainment, ADAS, and core vehicle software.
For the Gravity in 2026, the company plans to deliver hands-free highway driving, a feature branded “Lucid Intelligence AI Experience,” in-city drive assist, a digital key, vehicle-to-home energy backup, smart home charging, video streaming, adaptive driving beam headlights, and enhanced auto park.
The company also plans to roll out hands-free highway and city driving to the Gravity before year-end, making it the first Lucid model to receive point-to-point autonomous capabilities.
The Air sedan will receive the UX 3.0 interface overhaul this year, along with the AI assistant, vehicle-to-home energy backup, and smart home charging.
In 2027, the Gravity will gain interior live view, surround surveillance branded “Halo Secure,” vehicle-to-load capability, and productivity apps. Hands-free highway and city driving will extend to the upcoming Cosmos midsize vehicle the same year.
VP of Advanced Driving Systems Kai Stepper outlined a timeline moving from hands-free driving to Level 3 eyes-off autonomy in 2028 and Level 4 by 2029. He described the progression as moving toward “eyes-off, hands-off, mind-off” driving.
Subscription Revenue
Lucid announced for the first time that it will offer tiered ADAS subscriptions under its DreamDrive Pro brand starting in the first half of 2027.
Stepper said pricing will range from $69 to $199 per month, with the entry tier covering Level 2+ hands-free highway and city navigation and higher tiers reserved for Level 3 and Level 4 capabilities.
Lucid said it expects to generate approximately $1 billion in annual incremental non-vehicle revenue by the end of the decade, with smart energy, connectivity, and AD/ADAS subscriptions accounting for 54% of that target.
The remainder would come from service revenue at 26%, aftermarket finance and insurance at 11%, and accessories at 9%.
Stepper noted that Lucid’s existing ADAS take rates run between 40% and 65% on the Air and Gravity — well above an industry average of 10-40%.
The company said more than 95% of features in the Gravity are improvable over the air and that it pushed 13 over-the-air updates to its vehicles in 2025.
