Believe it or not, one of the main reasons I ordered a Lucid Air and not a Tesla was because Lucid Motors says the car supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. I am not alone, a lot of EV buyers are not going with Tesla because it does not support Apple CarPlay and/or Android Auto.

But as you know, Lucid said on several places on its web site that CarPlay and Android Auto is supported. Truth is, today, it is not – but the company is promising it is coming with an over-the-air update. And yes, I believe Lucid Motors, I do think it is coming and coming soon.

CarPlay Coming To The Lucid Air End Of Summer

The latest rumor I heard is that it is coming by the end of this summer. A Lucid buyer was told by his Lucid Sales Advisor that CarPlay was coming by the end of this summer, so in a few months. This buyer posted in the Lucid Owners Forum saying “The SA on yesterday’s test drive said CarPlay was coming by the end of the summer.”

Why Is It Not Supported Today

Now this is not clear – there are tons of rumors out there. Some thought it was an Apple issue, where Apple has not given approval to Lucid Motors yet. But most do not believe that.

Most believe that Lucid just hasn’t made the process with the current displays work well with CarPlay. The huge 5k display, the split screen and sharing screens with swipe one screen to the next, can be a bit tricky to get perfect and also support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

This sales advisor also told this Lucid buyer that the issue was “was a UX issue, getting everything to fit nice in Lucid’s screen shapes.”

The moderator of the forums agreed, he added “I said this on like page 3 but yes, I believe UX has always been the biggest constraint. CarPlay was made for horizontal screens of a certain ratio. Unless Lucid plans to have the CarPlay only on the top half of a screen, adapting everything to a vertical screen will be difficult. Because it’s not just CarPlay’s homescreen you have to account for, each developer’s app as well.”

Hopefully we will see it soon – I use CarPlay a heck of a lot when I drive and I can’t see myself driving without it.