Lucid Motors will charge $950 in the United States, installation included and taxes extra, to swap the infotainment processor in 2022, 2023 and some 2024 Lucid Air sedans so they can run Air UX 3.0, the interface that debuted on the Lucid Gravity SUV. Owners of 2025 and newer Airs get the same software as a free over-the-air update that began rolling out on September 29.
Marc Solsona Palomar, Lucid’s vice president of software, framed the release as part of the company’s “commitment to the continuous improvement of the customer experience.” What the announcement leaves for the earliest buyers is a choice between an interface that stays as it is and a paid hardware visit to a service center.
The $950 line and the 2024 cutoff
The charge is set out in Lucid’s own announcement of Air UX 3.0: owners of model-year 2022, 2023 and some 2024 Airs can get the update through an infotainment processor upgrade priced at $950 in the United States. The release adds that older vehicles need the hardware because their current systems cannot handle the new software. Lucid’s UX 3.0 page repeats the split and adds that the 2027 Air comes with the new interface as standard.
The phrase “some 2024” has a precise explanation. According to InsideEVs, a Lucid spokesperson said the switch to second-generation infotainment processors happened in mid-2024, so only the 2024 cars built before that point carry the first-generation part. The same report puts the free over-the-air build at software version 2.11.0 and says Lucid will share details for other markets soon, which means the $950 figure applies only to the United States for now.
The group affected includes the earliest and most expensive Airs. Autoevolution notes that the requirement lands on early adopters, among them buyers who paid $169,000 for the Dream Edition at launch. The report describes the update as arriving as software version 2.11.0 and says the older cars cannot run it because of processor limitations, so the hardware visit is a precondition rather than an optional extra.
Processor demands of a two-screen interface
UX 3.0 is more than a reskin. Lucid’s description includes a home screen on the right cockpit panel built from swipeable cards, a Quick Controls menu pulled down from the top of the pilot panel, route planning that lets drivers favor particular charging networks and set a minimum arrival range, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto that fill the full right-hand panel. Each display has to run its own apps, and handing a task from one screen to the other multiplies the load on the processor.
Smaller changes round out the package. Profile switching is faster, the primary account holder can manage secondary profile keys, and the Guest profile gains PIN protection. None of those items looks demanding on its own, but they ship as one build, so an Air that cannot run the base interface cannot pick up the extras either. For a 2022 owner the practical comparison is $950 against a cockpit that keeps its existing layout while newer cars on the same street move to the card-based design.
InsideEVs reports that the older vehicles contain first-generation infotainment processors that lack the capability for that independent, dual-screen app handling. No source in the coverage names the chip being installed, and Lucid’s release says only that the upgrade is a processor swap with installation included.
Tesla’s media-unit retrofit as the precedent
The closest precedent is Tesla’s 2020 retrofit of the media control unit in older Model S and Model X cars. Electrek’s report on the Lucid charge recalls that Tesla first asked $2,500 for that upgrade and later cut it to $1,500 after owner backlash.
Electrek also draws the difference in vehicle age. Tesla’s retrofit targeted cars roughly eight years old, while Lucid’s applies to Airs that are only two to four years old, a gap that makes a paid upgrade harder to see as routine end-of-life support. In Lucid’s favor, the same report notes that at least one commenter welcomed a hardware path at all, in contrast with automakers that charge for software fixes on the same hardware.
Lucid has not published a service-center schedule or per-region pricing outside the United States in the release or on the story page. The release states that eligible owners should contact Lucid Customer Care to confirm eligibility, which matters because the cutoff within the 2024 model year depends on when an individual car was built rather than on the model-year label alone.
The open numbers are on Lucid’s side of the ledger. The company has not said how many 2022 through 2024 Airs are eligible, how many owners will pay, or when the swap becomes available at every service center, and owners are told to contact Lucid Customer Care to confirm eligibility before booking.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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