Why Your Phone Gets OTA Updates But Your Car Doesn't 305
New submitter kjbullis writes with this snippet from Technology Review: "When Toyota recalled over two million cars last week because of flaws with antilock braking systems and other problems, the fix was simple — a few software updates .The implementation of that fix is far from simple. Every one of those cars has to be taken into a dealership to have the new software installed, an expensive process that can take months. Cars that haven't been fixed could, in some cases, suddenly stall and crash. There is an alternative — the same sort of remote software updates used for PCs and smart phones. Indeed, one automaker, Tesla Motors, already provides what it calls 'over-the-air updates,' which allowed it to execute a recent software fix without requiring anybody to bring in their cars. But other automakers are dragging their feet, both because they're worried about security and because they might face resistance from dealers."
Re:Umm safety? (Score:2, Informative)
The parent is +5 insightful and my post is trolling?
Most every car today comes with some form of remote data receive ability, from full on cellular data all the way down to lowly RDS.
Re:Umm safety? (Score:5, Informative)
Most cars today don't come with enabled cellular radios (or cellular radios at all for that matter). The luxury ones (like Tesla) do. The others, not so much. The subscriptions are expensive.
RDS? For transmitting what song is playing on FM stations? Hooking that up to do firmware updates on a car's computer sounds like a great idea!