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Old 07-26-2022, 09:43 PM   #202
raptor5244


 
Drives: 2022 CT4-V Blackwing
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Florida
Posts: 2,723
Quote:
Originally Posted by arpad_m View Post
Everyone and their little pony releases "platforms" these days, that's the new buzzword that no longer means much, because platforms now change as frequently as simple applications did back when "platform" meant an OS that lasted 20-25 years at least.

Unfortunately, the only reason you are enjoying this pleasant update/feature generosity is that EVs (and Tesla in particular) are still in the market making stage. Once they take a stronger foothold, which is about now or very soon, I think we'll start seeing the exact same trajectory that cell phones have followed—locked down app stores, in-app ("in-car") purchases or "subscriptions" that will be used to make you pay extra for features (heated steering wheel, cooled seats, heck, they could charge for seat memory or even allowing you to crank your A/C down below 70 degrees, the sky is the limit).

You'll have frequent, but generally meaningless updates that no longer give you much of value, but by then the software will have become a prime vehicle (sorry ) for monitoring ("telemetry"), continuous data, preference and even biometry acquisition (think always on eye tracking), access control and all-encompassing remote control etc., with no way to opt out.

Case in point? My cell phone started its life with Android 9 (I think), now it's on Android 12, and I keep everything up to date on it just to be on the safe side (read: nobody really cares, but I keep up just to minimize the chances of sucking in an exploit). The number of useful enhancements that actually add to my user experience has been 0—stuff changes, icons and fonts are redesigned, settings are moved around and maybe one or two arcane new feature got added—but I've yet to receive a single update that would've improved meaningful things like battery life or application performance.

Truth to be told, though, these phone updates have remained free, so I'm not complaining, it's just that in general the nature of this "evolution" is not as rosy as one might predict based on its early stages.

Finally, the ease of update deployment with software vs hardware has the unfortunate side effect of even higher delivery pressure and quality degradation, since fixing something like an oil pump or misbehaving transmission fluid after the fact is super expensive, but no comparable foresight and care needs to be taken with software. As long as the issues aren't life threatening (read: the company doesn't get sued much), manufacturers will gradually hire more and more minimally qualified coders and focus less on proper design, because errors that creep in are easy to fix via an OTA update.

Software is indeed eating the world. Now y'all young whippersnappers, get off my lawn, will ya
I don't disagree, but it appears this is the future of the auto industry. So, if you have to pick, which one do you choose? It looks like GM is focused on Ultium and Ultifi. They all want an extensible platform that they can use to monetize features as well.

I will say this, one visit to the Corvette forum and all I see are posts about failed software updates, my battery went dead, etc. And this is simple infotainment update stuff. Wait until the updates push updates to battery control systems, etc. I sure hope GM is hiring some really good cloud developers and has implemented the proper test procedures so that they don't accidentally take out an entire fleet of EVs with a botched OTA software update.

I was initially worried about how well Tesla would handle software updates but so far so good after 3 years and 25-30 updates so far. I get an update about once a month or so. Some updates are met with controversy in the forums especially when they modify the UI. Folks will scream, where did the setting for my heated seats go? And then an update later they will give you the option to put the heated seat button wherever you want. Stuff like that.

https://news.gm.com/newsroom.detail....29-ultifi.html

https://www.gm.com/ultium
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