Lucid just gave the Air sedan its biggest software overhaul in years, borrowing the look and feel of the Gravity SUV. If your Air is a 2025 or newer, it shows up for free. If you bought one of the early cars, you’ll have to pay up first.

• Air UX 3.0 started rolling out on September 29, 2026, as part of software version 2.11.0.
• 2025 and newer Airs get the update free over the air.
• Owners of 2022, 2023 and some 2024 Airs need a $950 infotainment processor upgrade at a Lucid service center.

The Gravity’s Interface Moves Into the Sedan

Lucid built Air UX 3.0 on the interface it designed for the Gravity SUV, which picked up a Gold iF Design Award in 2024. The pitch is simple. Lucid says the screens respond faster and you’ll spend less time digging through menus.

The biggest change sits on the curved Cockpit Panel behind the steering wheel. Its Home screen is now a stack of cards you can swipe through. You get your music, a shortcut to nearby charging stops, one-tap routes home or to work, calls, and car settings. Pull a card down and the full app opens on the Pilot Panel, the vertical touchscreen in the center console.

That lower screen picks up a new Quick Controls menu too. You pull it down from the top, much like you would on your phone. Lucid also says apps now move between the two displays with less lag, which should make the dual-screen setup feel less clunky.

Smarter Routing, Better Profiles and Bigger CarPlay

The new home screen is only part of the update. Here’s what else changes:

• Navigation: a reworked dual-screen layout, Favorites, and Auto Dark Mode
• EV routing: pick your preferred charging networks, include stations that work with Lucid-approved adapters, and set a minimum range you want left when you arrive
• Profiles: faster switching, more control for the Primary profile over linked keys, an easier Guest reset, and a six-digit PIN to leave Guest mode
• Phone projection: Apple CarPlay and Android Auto now fill the full right side of the Cockpit display, over wireless or USB

That last item may matter most to a lot of owners. Lucid didn’t make CarPlay standard across its lineup until 2023, and plenty of drivers lean on it the moment they get in the car. Giving it more room on the screen, along with what Lucid describes as better reliability, follows how people actually use these cars. Marc Solsona Palomar, Lucid’s VP of Software, said owners should find the Air more reliable and easier to use after the update.

The routing changes are practical too. Setting a minimum arrival range helps you avoid rolling into a charger with almost nothing left, and adapter-friendly stations give you more places to plug in on a road trip.

Why Early Air Owners Face a $950 Bill

The catch is hardware. Early Airs don’t have the processing power to run the new interface, so Lucid is offering an infotainment processor swap. In the US it costs $950, installation included, with taxes on top. Lucid hasn’t announced pricing for other markets yet, and owners need to contact Lucid Customer Care to check whether their car qualifies.

That stings for the people who bet on Lucid first. Some of them paid $169,000 for a 2022 Air Dream Edition. Now they’re the ones asked to open their wallets again to get the same software newer buyers receive for free.

Lucid isn’t the first EV maker to go this route. Tesla started charging $2,500 in 2020 to retrofit a newer infotainment computer into older Model S and Model X cars, then cut the price to $1,500 after pushback. Lucid’s price is lower. But Tesla’s upgrade was aimed at cars around eight years old, while Lucid’s covers cars that are only two to four years old.

This is just the third major version of the Air’s interface since the first cars reached owners in late 2021. UX 2.0 arrived in October 2022, about a year after launch.

Software Is the Next Test for Lucid

The redesign is welcome, but a new layout won’t fix everything on its own. Lucid publicly promised last December to fix Gravity software problems after a wave of owner complaints. A Gravity GT review in June still ran into a frozen seat app, navigation that opened and closed by itself, and a car that lost track of its key after short absences. That’s the same interface now heading to the Air.

Lucid’s motors, efficiency and packaging already rank near the top of the EV world. If the software catches up to the hardware, the Air becomes a much easier car to recommend. For early owners, the bigger question is whether $950 feels like a fair price for that progress or a penalty for buying first. Lucid could win a lot of goodwill by cutting that price for the loyal buyers who backed it from the start. If you own an early Air, contact Customer Care to confirm eligibility before you book the upgrade.