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 automobiles 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 “perhaps yearly.”
For conventional automobile firms, software program stays, or has been till very just 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 equivalent to BYD, Xpeng, and Xiaomi—it’s virtually the entire shebang.
Curiously, GM was really the primary automaker to introduce OTA performance, two years ahead of Tesla, but it surely was restricted to the OnStar telematics system. OTAs from conventional automakers typically add simply infotainment tweaks, whereas OTAs from the digital-first manufacturers might be shape-shifters, rising vary and boosting velocity. 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 automobiles with software program designed to stay largely unchanged all through a automobile’s 20-year lifespan. Since 2021, the complexity of the newest automobile software program platforms has elevated by about 40 p.c per yr, estimates McKinsey. There at the moment are 69 million OTA-capable automobiles within the US, reckons S&P Global.
Such software-defined vehicles, or SDVs, would increase automobile gross sales, automakers hoped. In keeping 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 much like the Wards evaluation, Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, and Jaguar Land Rover wallow at the bottom.
Saving and Promoting
Completed proper, OTAs not solely freshen a automobile’s person expertise, they’ll additionally slash the price of recollects for automakers. Greater than 13 million vehicles had been recalled in 2024 as a consequence 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 enormous 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 methods. FOTA capabilities require automobiles—normally 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 supplied with the newest 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 might be unlocked over-the-air to turn into a tire squeal faster off the mark. For an additional $10 a month, Tesla’s “premium connectivity” package provides streaming information, stay sentry cams, and different goodies. Need what critics declare is the misleadingly named Full Self Driving (FSD) Supervised function? It’s yours for an extra $99 a month.
