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Lucid Air Dream Edition shows impressive initial build quality thanks to human craftsmanship

Credit: Vivianna Van Deerlin | YouTube

Published

4 years ago

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With the Lucid Air Dream Edition finally beginning initial deliveries more than a year after its unveiling, the automaker’s first builds are showing an impressive build quality thanks to Lucid’s focus on fine craftsmanship. A spacious, luxury interior also fills the inside of the Air Dream Edition, giving the impression that first owners are more than happy with what they have been given after a lengthy wait.

Vivianna Van Deerlin was one of the first owners of the Lucid Air Dream Edition and attended the October 30th, 2021 unveiling event in California. While Van Deerling attended the West Coast-located ceremony, which included breakfast, numerous speeches from Lucid executives, and a trunk full of Lucid-inspired goodies, she is a resident of New Jersey, and putting 3,000 miles on the car in the first few days was not what she planned for. The vehicle was then shipped to New Jersey, where she plans to take delivery soon.

However, a video Van Deerlin took at the Lucid Delivery Event in California showed the impressive build quality the Air sports in its early builds, and it may be the reason the car was awarded MotorTrend’s “Car of the Year” award. Lucid has already detailed that the first few units of the Air would be built by hand. In March, Lucid detailed the tedious-but-necessary process of taking out automation and bringing humans in to build the cars. It eliminates the uncertainty of mass production, and while fewer units can be built, quality is unmatched. “At this stage in the process, it’s less about the robots and more about the hands-on human element. It’s all carefully choreographed,” Lucid wrote in its blog. “We do have some robots and we do have automation, but this vehicle is put together by humans. And it takes real craftsmanship,” Art Schlaud, Director of Manufacturing for General Assembly said.

Lucid shows the tedious process of building the Air Dream Edition

If the Air Dream Edition delivery event told us anything, it’s that Lucid is bringing its finest vehicles to the forefront during its shiny-and-pretty delivery event. The cars are nearly flawless, and the exterior is almost as pretty as the interior.

Van Deerlin may be one of the most qualified people on Earth to give a first impression of an EV. In 2009, Van Deerlin was a Model S reservation holder, and took delivery of an S85 in December 2012, she said. There was no infrastructure, Superchargers were not a thing, and electrification was far away from the mainstream. “It was a gamble at the time, but we believed firmly in the mission to transition the world to sustainable energy, so were excited to be early adopters of Tesla and help spread the word,” Van Deerlin said.

Lucid’s competitive nature, which has included plenty of mention of rival Tesla, does not make anything different for Van Deerlin. “This purchase of a Lucid Air in no way diminishes my passion for my Tesla vehicles, energy products and the Tesla community. I love our Model 3, Model S, and Roadster. For anyone who truly believes in the Tesla mission, and not just making money from Tesla stock, the success of more than one EV company is imperative. I see a future of transition to electric vehicles — but I do not see a future where everyone drives a Tesla,” she said on YouTube.

Build quality is a term that many Tesla enthusiasts are familiar with because it was a strong point of conversation for media for some time. Tesla was struggling with build quality when ramping up the Model 3 several years ago, after having the reputation of well-built cars with early adaptations of the Model S being handbuilt. CEO Elon Musk has always said that “production is hard,” and Lucid may get to experience that lesson in a few years when it begins to mass-produce the Air sedan or the “Project Gravity” SUV it will unveil. The real question is whether Lucid will be able to keep this impressive build quality up while it begins to scale its manufacturing processes. Past experiences have taught us that automakers tend to struggle with perfect build quality while balancing thousands of units per day.

Nevertheless, Lucid brought its A-game for its first impressions. Check out Van Deerlin’s video on the delivery experience below.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla to increase Full Self-Driving subscription price: here’s when

Published

21 hours ago

on

January 24, 2026

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla will increase its Full Self-Driving subscription price, meaning it will eventually be more than the current $99 per month price tag it has right now.

Already stating that the ability to purchase the suite outright will be removed, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said earlier this week that the Full Self-Driving subscription price would increase when its capabilities improve:

“I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve. The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (unsupervised FSD).”

This was an expected change, especially as Tesla has been hinting for some time that it is approaching a feature-complete version of Full Self-Driving that will no longer require driver supervision. However, with the increase, some are concerned that they may be priced out.

$99 per month is already a tough ask for some. While Full Self-Driving is definitely worth it just due to the capabilities, not every driver is ready to add potentially 50 percent to their car payment each month to have it.

While Tesla has not revealed any target price for FSD, it does seem that it will go up to at least $150.

Additionally, the ability to purchase the suite outright is also being eliminated on February 14, which gives owners another reason to be slightly concerned about whether they will be able to afford to continue paying for Full Self-Driving in any capacity.

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Some owners have requested a tiered program, which would allow people to pay for the capabilities they want at a discounted price.

Unsupervised FSD would be the most expensive, and although the company started removing Autopilot from some vehicles, it seems a Supervised FSD suite would still attract people to pay between $49 and $99 per month, as it is very useful.

Tesla will likely release pricing for the Unsupervised suite when it is available, but price increases could still come to the Supervised version as things improve.

This is not the first time Musk has hinted that the price would change with capability improvements, either. He’s been saying it for some time. In 2020, he even said the value of FSD would “probably be somewhere in excess of $100,000.”

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Tesla starts removing outright Full Self-Driving purchase option at time of order

Published

24 hours ago

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January 24, 2026

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla has chosen to axe the ability to purchase Full Self-Driving outright from a select group of cars just days after CEO Elon Musk announced the company had plans to eliminate that option in February.

The company is making a clear-cut stand that it will fully transition away from the ability to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright, a move that has brought differing opinions throughout the Tesla community.

Earlier this week, the company also announced that it will no longer allow buyers to purchase Full Self-Driving outright when ordering a pre-owned vehicle from inventory. Instead, that will be available for $99 per month, the same price that it costs for everyone else.

The ability to buy the suite for $8,000 for a one-time fee at the time of order has been removed:

This is a major move because it is the first time Tesla is eliminating the ability to purchase FSD outright for one flat fee to any of its vehicles, at least at the time of purchase.

It is trying to phase out the outright purchase option as much as it can, preparing people for the subscription-based service it will exclusively offer starting on February 14.

In less than a month, it won’t be available on any vehicle, which has truly driven some serious conversation from Tesla owners throughout the community.

There’s a conflict, because many believe that they will now lose the ability to buy FSD and not pay for it monthly, which is an attractive offer. However, others believe, despite paying $8,000 for FSD, that they will have to pay more money on top of that cost to get the unsupervised suite.

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Additionally, CEO Elon Musk said that the FSD suite’s subscription price would increase over time as capabilities increase, which is understandable, but is also quite a conflict for those who spent thousands to have what was once promised to them, and now they may have to pay even more money.

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Tesla Robotaxi has a highly-requested hardware feature not available on typical Model Ys

These camera washers are crucial for keeping the operation going, as they are the sole way Teslas operate autonomously. The cameras act as eyes for the car to drive, recognize speed limit and traffic signs, and travel safely.

Published

1 day ago

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January 24, 2026

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Credit: David Moss | X

Tesla Robotaxi has a highly-requested hardware feature that is not available on typical Model Ys that people like you and me bring home after we buy them. The feature is something that many have been wanting for years, especially after the company adopted a vision-only approach to self-driving.

After Tesla launched driverless Robotaxi rides to the public earlier this week in Austin, people have been traveling to the Lone Star State in an effort to hopefully snag a ride from one of the few vehicles in the fleet that are now no longer required to have Safety Monitors present.

BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor

Although only a few of those completely driverless rides are available, there have been some new things seen on these cars that are additions from regular Model Ys, including the presence of one new feature: camera washers.

With the Model Y, there has been a front camera washer, but the other exterior “eyes” have been void of any solution for this. For now, owners are required to clean them manually.

In Austin, Tesla is doing things differently. It is now utilizing camera washers on the side repeater and rear bumper cameras, which will keep the cameras clean and keep operation as smooth and as uninterrupted as possible:

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These camera washers are crucial for keeping the operation going, as they are the sole way Teslas operate autonomously. The cameras act as eyes for the car to drive, recognize speed limit and traffic signs, and travel safely.

This is the first time we are seeing them, so it seems as if Safety Monitors might have been responsible for keeping the lenses clean and unobstructed previously.

However, as Tesla transitions to a fully autonomous self-driving suite and Robotaxi expands to more vehicles in the Robotaxi fleet, it needed to find a way to clean the cameras without any manual intervention, at least for a short period, until they can return for interior and exterior washing.

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