Remote software update changing auto industry, experts say – Winnipeg Free Press

TORONTO – Picture a wrecked car on the side of the road. Most likely, this is the image of a frustrated driver looking under the hood or using his phone to call for help.

But that could change. Advanced software in connected cars is developing faster, allowing some problems to be solved without going to the garage or dealership.

These over-the-air fixes can remotely update entertainment and navigation systems and, in some cases, critical safety features.

According to experts, this is the way the car industry is moving forward.

In December, Tesla recalled more than two million vehicles due to a self-driving feature that has led to fatal crashes, according to the US Transportation Agency. The automaker was able to deploy a series of over-the-air software updates to fix the problem.

“Software is no longer really an option for automakers; it's a must,” said Dylan Hu, an automotive industry analyst at ABI Research in London, England.

“A car has to have software, and software has its inherent bugs,” he said. “This software creates a requirement to update it, and if you can't do it remotely, it's severely limited.”

Remote updates work similarly to changes on connected devices such as cellphones or laptops in that they can be programmed for a specific time, usually overnight, and delivered without active user involvement, Ho said.

Often, drivers receive notifications on a mobile app or in-car console alerting them to an available upgrade, which they confirm and schedule, he said.

Tesla was the first automaker to introduce over-the-air updates more than a decade ago. Such updates have greatly improved the customer experience, said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd.

“Whenever there was any software change to the vehicle, you had to go (to the dealer) … leave it for a few hours,” he said. “It was quite an effort.”

Car manufacturers create encrypted software for their car model and send the cumulative update through a server, which is then downloaded to Carover Wi-Fi or cellular data.

Minor updates can be downloaded in five minutes, Falzon says, and if the update is for security reasons, it's free.

Khoo said these software updates are different from the way they were delivered in the past – you download them to a USB stick, take the car to a dealer and pay to have the update done.

“The real advantage (over-the-air) is that the car company can control software updates and do them more often,” Hoo said, which is especially true when urgent software changes are pushed against security threats.

But this is not yet a common practice because cars are built with parts from different suppliers. In Canada, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Lucid, Mercedes-Benz, Polestar, Tesla, VinFast and Volvo have issued remote updates to address the recall, Hu said.

Even automakers that provide some level of remote updates have yet to match Tesla's capability in critical remote security fixes. Updates that fix critical features are usually rare, Hu said. Most automakers don't hesitate to fully commit to certain over-the-air updates if something goes wrong, he added.

There are several cases where update attempts have disabled the functionality of vehicles.

Last year, a Ford Mach-E owner shared a photo of his car's console online after an upgrade failed. The message said, “Unfortunately, the latest software update was not successful. Your car is undriveable.'

Ford said this is a rare occurrence and the owner is helping to resolve the situation.

“As the customer noted in a follow-up social media post, the Ford team responded immediately and resolved the issue,” Megan Joachim, communications manager at Ford of Canada, said in an email.

In general, electric vehicles have better options for remote upgrades than gas-powered vehicles. The ethereal leaders are mainly companies that focus on electric cars, such as Tesla, BMW and other luxury European brands.

Falzon recalled that his EV received an over-the-air upgrade that allowed him to select a one-button cruise option or a two-click option.

“These small tweaks are based on feedback … and it's all free,” he said.

According to Falzon, mechanical components are usually unnecessary in electric machines and can be easily fixed remotely. However, he had to bring in his electric car once for a software update after a US agency mandate asked him to improve the car's response to charging.

In 2023, 147 software recalls were issued in the U.S., of which only 18 were available for over-the-air updates, Khoo said.

In the past five years, more than 20 million vehicles have been recalled in the U.S. for software problems that could not be fixed with a remote update, Hoo added.

Even with remote upgrades, cars still require visits to a mechanic for oil changes and other physical repairs.

“No one is going to fix the brakes or the air transmission,” said Huw Williams, a spokesman for the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association. Dealers and mechanics will continue to play a role in the vehicle aftermarket, he added.

Manufacturers have also been slow to adopt a deeper level of over-the-air software updates — perhaps because they haven't found a sustainable revenue model for it, Ho said.

“This is actually because the maintenance cost usually exceeds the production cost,” Hu said. “That's why a lot of (manufacturers) don't get into it aggressively, because they're not entirely comfortable with taking on the cost of things they can't make a profit on.”

He said the car will be on the road for 15 years and the manufacturer's commitment to its customers will determine the level of software updates when the car is out of warranty.

“One of the big changes that's needed is figuring out where the car ends physically and the software begins,” Hu said, because they're integrated.

“It's hard to know exactly what customers will be satisfied with and (when) they'll accept a monthly subscription fee,” he said. Subscription-based over-the-air upgrades are limited to a handful of brands like Tesla, opening up self-driving options for extra dollars.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 11, 2024.