Regardless of years of effort and the outlay of billions of {dollars}, not one of the world’s automakers have but to match Tesla’s prowess in delivering over-the-air (OTA) software program updates. Similar to along with your cellphone and laptop computer, these working system refreshes enable homeowners to improve their vehicles remotely.
Tesla introduced OTAs in 2012, however now Elon Musk’s firm pumps out these updates like no different automaker. “Tesla as soon as issued 42 updates inside six months,” Jean-Marie Lapeyre, Capgemini’s CTO for automotive, tells WIRED. However for a lot of different automakers, says Lapeyre, OTAs ship “possibly every year.”
For conventional automobile firms, software program stays, or has been till very just lately, merely one bolt-on element amongst many. In distinction, for Tesla and different digital-native automakers—amongst them Rivian, Lucid, Polestar, and Chinese language manufacturers similar to BYD, Xpeng, and Xiaomi—it’s nearly the entire shebang.
Curiously, GM was truly the primary automaker to introduce OTA performance, two years ahead of Tesla, however it was restricted to the OnStar telematics system. OTAs from conventional automakers typically add simply infotainment tweaks, whereas OTAs from the digital-first manufacturers will be shape-shifters, rising vary and boosting pace. They typically additionally reward options from the puerile to the genuinely performative: fart noises on demand from Tesla, plusher suspension for Rivian homeowners, and car unlocking by phone from Polestar.
Automobiles have had onboard microprocessors since the 1970s, however till comparatively just lately conventional automakers made their vehicles with software program designed to stay largely unchanged all through a automobile’s 20-year lifespan. Since 2021, the complexity of the most recent automobile software program platforms has elevated by about 40 p.c per yr, estimates McKinsey. There are actually 69 million OTA-capable automobiles within the US, reckons S&P Global.
Such software-defined vehicles, or SDVs, would enhance automobile gross sales, automakers hoped. In accordance with two scorecards measuring SDV progress, Tesla leads the pack. Gartner’s Digital Automaker Index for 2025 locations Chinese language EV producers Nio and Xiaomi in second and third positions, respectively. Wards Intelligence agrees these are the three to beat. On the opposite finish of the size, and just like the Wards evaluation, Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, and Jaguar Land Rover wallow at the bottom.
Saving and Promoting
Carried out proper, OTAs not solely freshen a automobile’s consumer expertise, they’ll additionally slash the price of remembers for automakers. Greater than 13 million vehicles have been recalled in 2024 on account of software-related points, a 35 p.c enhance over the prior yr. Earlier than OTAs, the average cost of an auto recall was about $500 per automobile. OTAs could also be delivered wirelessly, however they don’t seem to be cost-free, both for the environment or for automakers—Harman Automotive, a provider of OTA software program, estimates that it prices an automaker $66.50 per automobile to ship a 1 GB replace.
Nevertheless it’s normally solely the digital natives sending out large replace recordsdata, as a result of typically solely they’re able to firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updates. These can replace powertrains, battery administration, and braking techniques. FOTA capabilities require vehicles—normally EVs—to have good, persistent connectivity and important computing energy, a lot of it left latent for future updates. Lucid’s Gravity electrical SUV, for example, is supplied with the most recent Nvidia Orin-X processor, with 512 GB of onboard storage, but the automobile’s OS fits on just 100 GB, leaving oodles of room for later OTA refreshes.
As Western automobile firm revenues fall, automakers need to generate profits from OTA-enabled subscriptions. Give Tesla $2,000 and, with the optional Acceleration Boost, your EV will be unlocked over-the-air to change into a tire squeal faster off the mark. For an additional $10 a month, Tesla’s “premium connectivity” package provides streaming information, dwell sentry cams, and different goodies. Need what critics declare is the misleadingly named Full Self Driving (FSD) Supervised characteristic? It’s yours for a further $99 a month.
