Even though over-the-air (OTA) updates promise to transform vehicles much like phones and computers, most automakers still lag behind. Tesla leads by a wide margin, rolling out frequent updates, 42 in six months at one point, but most traditional automakers issue barely one per year, tells Wired.com.
One reason is organizational mindset. For legacy car companies, software has been an afterthought, added on rather than central to design. Digital-native firms, in contrast, build from the ground up with software at the core. That difference shows in capability: Tesla’s OTA system can tweak everything from battery management to driving dynamics, while other brands restrict updates to infotainment tweaks.
Delivering OTA isn’t cheap either. Automakers incur real costs—Harman estimates around USD 66.50 per vehicle for a 1 GB update. And more importantly, safety rules for cars are far more stringent than for phones. Software that controls braking, steering, or safety features must undergo exhaustive validation, slowing deployment.
Plus, OTA updates come with risks. Automakers can harvest user data under terms of service. In some cases, vehicles have been “bricked” or had capabilities downgraded via OTA; Xiaomi reduced horsepower from a car overnight pending driver performance validation. Such moves erode consumer trust.
Part of the technical challenge is fragmentation. Traditional automakers use dozens or even hundreds of electronic control units (ECUs) from different suppliers, each with its own software ecosystem. When these don’t speak cleanly to one another, coordination becomes painful.
The article argues that to catch up, incumbents must embrace a software-first mindset. They need streamlined decision processes, unified architectures, and tighter integration of software teams rather than treating code as an afterthought. Only then can OTA updates be reliable, timely, and trusted.