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. Identical to along with your telephone and laptop computer, these working system refreshes enable homeowners to improve their automobiles remotely.
Tesla launched 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 “perhaps yearly.”
For conventional automobile corporations, software program stays, or has been till very lately, merely one bolt-on part amongst many. In distinction, for Tesla and different digital-native automakers—amongst them Rivian, Lucid, Polestar, and Chinese language manufacturers akin to BYD, Xpeng, and Xiaomi—it’s virtually the entire shebang.
Apparently, GM was really the primary automaker to introduce OTA performance, two years forward of Tesla, nevertheless it was restricted to the OnStar telematics system. OTAs from conventional automakers usually add simply infotainment tweaks, whereas OTAs from the digital-first manufacturers might be shape-shifters, rising vary and boosting velocity. They usually additionally present options from the puerile to the genuinely performative: fart noises on demand from Tesla, plusher suspension for Rivian homeowners, and automobile unlocking by telephone from Polestar.
Automobiles have had onboard microprocessors for the reason that Seventies, however till comparatively lately conventional automakers made their automobiles 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 % per yr, estimates McKinsey. There at the moment are 69 million OTA-capable automobiles within the US, reckons S&P World.
Such software-defined automobiles, 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 on the backside.
Saving and Promoting
Completed proper, OTAs not solely freshen a automobile’s consumer expertise, they will additionally slash the price of recollects for automakers. Greater than 13 million automobiles have been recalled in 2024 attributable to software-related points, a 35 % improve over the prior yr. Earlier than OTAs, the common value 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 atmosphere 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 often solely the digital natives sending out large replace information, as a result of usually solely they’re able to firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updates. These can replace powertrains, battery administration, and braking programs. FOTA capabilities require automobiles—often EVs—to have good, persistent connectivity and vital computing energy, a lot of it left latent for future updates. Lucid’s Gravity electrical SUV, as an illustration, is provided with the most recent Nvidia Orin-X processor, with 512 GB of onboard storage, but the automobile’s OS suits on simply 100 GB, leaving oodles of room for later OTA refreshes.
As Western automobile firm revenues fall, automakers want to earn money from OTA-enabled subscriptions. Give Tesla $2,000 and, with the non-compulsory Acceleration Increase, your EV might be unlocked over-the-air to turn into a tire squeal faster off the mark. For one more $10 a month, Tesla’s “premium connectivity” bundle provides streaming information, reside sentry cams, and different goodies. Need what critics declare is the misleadingly named Full Self Driving (FSD) Supervised function? It’s yours for a further $99 a month.
