A Brief Analysis of OTA Technology for Smart Cars

With the rapid development of smart cars today, if you go to a 4S store to buy a new energy vehicle, the salesperson will definitely tell you that today's cars can be like mobile phones, with applications that can be updated regularly. As car systems become more and more mature, consumers can always experience new features developed by manufacturers, which is still very attractive to car enthusiasts.

However, such a convenient "OTA" technology has been subject to government regulatory restrictions some time ago. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Opinions on Strengthening the Access Management of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Manufacturers and Products" emphasizes that "without approval, no new or updated vehicle autonomous driving functions may be added or updated through online software upgrades." So, can the "OTA" technology that survives in the cracks really make vehicles always new and iterative at any time, thereby achieving the function of continuous upgrading? In the face of strong government supervision, how can manufacturers reasonably apply this technology to benefit consumers? This article will deeply interpret the "OTA" field that all manufacturers are focusing on now.

What is OTA

"OTA" stands for Over-The-Air Technology, which is the process of downloading the latest applications or systems from a remote server via a wireless network to upgrade the vehicle's operating system. Since the update is done via a wireless network, the owner only needs to connect to the wireless network to quickly update the vehicle's system, which is very convenient.

As for mobile phone applications, people may have long been accustomed to updating mobile phone applications at any time in the app store. Today's smart cars can be said to be mobile phones with four wheels. Everything that can be played on the mobile phone can also be put in the smart cockpit. You must know that nowadays, most people spend a long time in the car, and the large screen in the car provides passengers or car owners with a more vivid human-computer interaction environment. Consumers are also very happy to use in-car applications for entertainment during tiring driving. As manufacturers increasingly want to make cars intelligent and develop smart cars in the direction of high-end technology, "OTA" is definitely a must-go for all manufacturers and a must-fight place.

The role of OTA

So what are the functions of "OTA" and what can it provide to consumers, which makes manufacturers promote this new technology so vigorously. In my opinion, the current "OTA" can be said to have three main functions: fixing known bugs, adding new features, and maintaining user stickiness.

1. Fix known bugs

The current in-vehicle systems are becoming more and more sophisticated, and they support more and more applications. But in the final analysis, the popularity of the smart car industry has only been in recent years. Under such conditions, immature car applications will still have many system or application bugs. At this time, manufacturers will have two choices, one is to release the product first, and then iterate to fix the known bugs, and the other is to postpone the release cycle. But with the rapid development of smart cars today, if you postpone one step, it means falling behind your competitors. It can be said that no manufacturer should be willing to postpone the product release cycle unless it is absolutely necessary.

Therefore, in this case, as long as the known product system bugs are not enough to affect the user experience, most manufacturers will release the product first, and then update it in subsequent iterations. Before the emergence of "OTA" technology, system updates required car owners to drive to 4S stores to flash the system. However, this update frequency is definitely not enough. Some small details or insignificant updates cannot make consumers make an extra trip to update these functions. Over time, consumers cannot get the latest applications, and the products that manufacturers have worked hard to develop may not be enjoyed by old customers. At this time, the role of "OTA" can be seen. Every time the manufacturer fixes a small problem, it can be pushed to consumers remotely. As long as the car owner has a network, he can always update to the latest version. It is very convenient for both new and old customers. It can be said that it is a good way for manufacturers to maintain old customers and always build their brand reputation.

2. Add new features

The addition of new functions has made current car manufacturers accustomed to stacking hardware on smart cars and making hardware redundancy. Although these hardware do not provide good functions at present, with the update of software algorithms, they can improve assisted driving functions or infotainment systems, etc., which is a great temptation for car owners. For example, Xiaopeng's NGP high-speed autonomous navigation driving system is updated through OTA, allowing car owners to enjoy one of the most advanced assisted driving systems in China.

However, after the new policy is introduced, the system upgrade of car owners may not be as convenient as before. With the increase of government supervision, the content of each upgrade will definitely be strictly limited. For overly radical assisted driving upgrades, it may not be easy to get government approval. In addition, the government's approval process will inevitably take time, and the extension of the upgrade line may make the process of consumers experiencing new technologies longer. But in any case, safety is always the first priority, and strong government supervision is not a bad thing. This will make some more radical car manufacturers more cautious about the online use of their new technologies, so that consumers can enjoy the driving pleasure brought by mature assisted driving technology with confidence.

3. Maintain user stickiness

In the traditional automotive industry, a car is sold and the business is over. Apart from regular maintenance at 4S stores, car owners do not have more in-depth exchanges with car companies. However, new car manufacturers do not think so. They are very concerned about the user experience and user stickiness of car owners. The most famous ones in this regard are Weilai and Ideal. They not only actively organize various offline gatherings for their car owners to increase communication, but also push the latest small functions to users through OTA from time to time, so that consumers always feel that they are valued, which makes them more famous in the group. Word of mouth can further improve user stickiness, retaining old customers while attracting new customers.

Technical difficulties of “OTA”

Having said so many advantages of "OTA" before, don't think that the current "OTA" technology is mature and there are no problems. It is true that "OTA" must be the development trend of the future, but at present, there are still some safety hazards and technical difficulties. First of all, upgrading is equivalent to importing the vehicle from one state to another to a certain extent, and some errors will inevitably occur in this process. For example, a certain brand of electric car was parked in the middle of the road for an hour after OTA was performed. Of course, in this case, both consumers and manufacturers are responsible. Secondly, constantly updating the version may result in instability of the new version. In this case, the manufacturer needs to be able to take rollback measures in time to avoid affecting the user experience.

In addition, there may be a risk of network hijacking during the OTA process, which requires manufacturers to ensure end-to-end security, that is, from the developer to the subsequent vehicle manufacturer and automotive products, to ensure that all data channels are secure, the data is encrypted, and the final developed software is verified by the security level. Even the identity of the original developer has also been security verified.

Finally, the introduction of the new policy can be said to have added a stricter shackle to "OTA". Safety is always the first priority of driving, whether it is passive safety or active safety. For suppliers and car companies, ensuring user safety and system safety when using "OTA" technology is the basis for making "OTA" more widely used in the future and benefiting the public.

Summarize

In summary, "OTA" can indeed make vehicles always new in the short term, just like current smartphones, if there is enough memory within one or two years, updating system applications can indeed meet daily usage needs. However, in the long run, with the rapid iteration and update of algorithms, if the car you buy does not have the corresponding hardware or sensors installed in advance, no matter how powerful the "OTA" technology is, it may be powerless.

At the same time, the introduction of the new policy means that the government needs to set a standard so that auto companies cannot design innovative products as they please and cannot let consumers be guinea pigs for radical or even risky designs. Therefore, the new policy not only ensures the consistency of product production, but also requires companies to ensure that their auto products comply with national laws and regulations before implementing online upgrade activities, thus ensuring the consistency of auto product production.

We can have high expectations for "OTA" technology, but at the same time we cannot easily believe the manufacturer's sales trap. Consumers who are very interested in new technologies can decide whether their cars need so much hardware pre-embedded based on their actual needs, and whether there will really be such high application upgrade needs in the future. Do not fall into the manufacturer's publicity trap.