‘I Changed The Software program Crew’ After The Gravity’s Buggy Launch

• The Lucid Gravity SUV launched with a bevy of software program points, together with glitching screens and a key fob that usually grew to become unrecognizable and prevented driving.
• Lucid Motors’ interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, mentioned that the corporate changed a lot of its software program crew within the wake of the launch.
• Winterhoff mentioned he expects these last glitches to be fastened on the finish of January, or “on the newest, the tip of March.”

Marc Winterhoff mentioned he’s conscious of the irony. His firm, Lucid Motors, releases probably the most superior electrical autos the U.S. market has ever seen. That automobile, the Lucid Gravityhas class-leading vary, effectivity and fast-charging. The Gravity is an efficient sufficient platform that it will be used as a driverless taxi in Uber’s community.

And but its key fob did not work.

Whereas the Gravity was Lucid’s most essential launch but—an SUV that may develop the model in methods the Lucid Air sedan couldn’t—it debuted final 12 months with a raft of technical points. These issues included a glitching display and a key fob that the automobile generally could not acknowledge, stopping somebody from driving away. We at InsideEVs encountered each in testing final 12 months, which saved the otherwise-impressive Gravity from taking the highest honors on the InsideEVs Breakthrough Awards.

Lucid Gravity Uber Nuro Robotaxi CES 2026

Picture by: Patrick George

So at CES 2026 final week, Winterhoff, Lucid’s interim CEO, advised InsideEVs that the automaker made some huge personnel adjustments within the wake of the Gravity’s launch. “I mainly changed the entire software program management crew,” Winterhoff mentioned in a briefing with reporters. “We’re working by this, and we’re truly very shut.”

A Lucid spokesperson confirmed the adjustments to InsideEVs, and couldn’t present the overall variety of firings, however mentioned it was “greater than a handful.”

The automaker introduced in November that Lucid’s chief engineer, Eric Bach, was leaving the corporate after greater than a decade; TechCrunch reported that Lucid’s VP of Engineering, James Hawkins, additionally departed. (Bach later filed a lawsuit towards the automaker, alleging a hostile work surroundings and slurs towards his German nationality. InsideEVs has reached out to each Bach and Hawkins for remark.) Lucid Motors’ former Senior Vice President of Powertrain, Emad Dlala, was then promoted to supervise all of “Engineering and Digital.” It’s unclear which, if any, of those departures are immediately associated to the Gravity’s software program challenges.

Lucid Gravity Display screen Glitch

Picture by: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs

For the reason that Gravity’s launch, Lucid has launched various over-the-air (OTA) software program updates. At present, Motor Pattern reported that the most recent one, 3.3.20, has fastened two of the automobile’s largest points: key-fob detection and inconsistent unlocking and begins.

At CES, Winterhoff mentioned that no less than yet another OTA replace is coming to the Gravity on the finish of January, adopted by one other one in two months. “So our expectation is that for the Gravity, we can be over the hump by finish of January, newest, newest, finish of March,” he mentioned.

Winterhoff acknowledged the Gravity’s key fob situation, which generally left house owners unable to begin their autos. However that situation, he mentioned, has been “to an nearly full extent, fastened.” One other OTA replace coming within the subsequent few weeks will tackle how the important thing frequently “pings” the automobile till its personal battery runs out.

Picture by: Patrick George

Software program has been a pervasive problem for almost each automaker within the fashionable period, from each newcomers like Lucid to extra seasoned gamers like Volvo and Normal Motors. EVs are sometimes testbeds for brand-new applied sciences, and as such, their software program suites carry complexities—and function parts from many various suppliers—that may wreck the whole expertise if one thing goes unsuitable.

For Lucid’s half, Winterhoff mentioned, the corporate is conscious of the issue and “made drastic adjustments to show that round.”

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Supply: Patrick George

“It is generally embarrassing. Now we have such a improbable automobile, by the best way,” he mentioned. “Beneath the hood, so as to make that automobile carry out prefer it performs, is tons of software program that each one works. After which the important thing fob would not. I imply, I form of chortle at it now, however, consider me, I wasn’t laughing a few months in the past.”

Contact the creator: patrick.george@insideevs.com