In the world of software updates - why are we even talking about hardware?

For in-vehicle applications, the software that runs different functions is installed directly into the vehicle (unlike cloud-based applications that we're getting accustomed to in other industries). There are as many as 100 mini computers or electric control units (ECU) in a vehicle, each consisting of both software and the hardware components that run them. When manufacturers plan the ECU components, one of the key decisions is what size memory to allocate. Chip makers price memory storage (Flash and RAM) differently based on capacity - and the price difference between the different sizes is tremendous.

To ensure the cost of a vehicle is as effective as possible, manufacturers purchase memory chips based on the size of the program file. Since flash sizes are standard and program sizes can vary, often not all memory is utilized. For example, if one program (measured in compiled binary code) is 13MB, the closest chip size is 16MB, leaving 3MB free for software image growth over time.

To conduct software updates, a sufficient amount of available space must be available on the memory drive.

Why do OTA solutions require available memory space?

There are a few different methods in the market today to send update files to vehicles. Some send the entire program all over again, and some send the delta or only the changes between the current and the new version of software. However, to assure a failsafe update process, all the different methodologies have one thing in common: you don't erase the existing version until the new one is safely installed. Verifications of the newly updated version and the enablement of a safe rollback to the previous version is required to ensure a smooth transition.

This means that at any given time, an ECU's memory must allow for both the original program as well as the complete update file simultaneously - making the need for memory greater than the original size of the program. Using our earlier example, a 13MB application taking up 81% footprint may not leave sufficient memory space for additional update files.

The initial (now legacy) OTA update methods require a full second/redundant bank of flash memory, also known as A/B memory. Whether a full image or binary diff update, it is very costly and requires creating dual partitions in the endpoint memory and doubling the available memory. In this manner, the updated software version image is written to the second partition, and if it fails, the system can revert to the previous version that is located on the first partition.

How much can a little flash drive possibly cost?

Conservative prices for 512MB NAND flash chips that might be used in domain controller architectures cost about $8 each, but a manufacturer may produce several million vehicles annually with multiple (3-4) domain controllers, TCU, Head-Units and gateways. Even in architecture with smaller discrete micro-controller ECUs that use 2, 4, 8 or 16 MB flash memory chips, they typically still cost $1 or more each, and a vehicle may have 100 ECUs that are required to be updateable. If a manufacturer builds 10 million vehicles a year that require double banks of flash memory, the additional cost could easily surpass $1.5 billion.

To read more details about potential costs of OTA updates, visit the Guidehouse Insights' Cost Consideration Guide.

Aurora Labs' additive update files - the cost-effective alternative

Aurora Labs' Line-of-Code Intelligence technology has revolutionized the way that updates files are created. Unlike existing binary diff update methods, Aurora Labs' Auto Update integrates into the development toolchain and automatically analyzes and identifies changes in the lines of code. With this intimate understanding of the software, we are able to generate the world's smallest update files (6x smaller than other binary diff methods and a fraction of the size of a full software image). Our small update files are additive update files that are written to the next free space on the existing flash memory. As many as 20 update files can be written to the existing free space avoiding the need for additional memory drives or even external memory 'boosters'.

To learn more about our OTA technology, visit the Auto Update product page.

While doing a bit of research to write this blog, I came across an interesting thought, "In a nutshell, being proactive is the same thing as being reactive. The only difference is: you do the reacting ahead of time."

Auto manufacturers have raised OTA update solutions to the top rung of the technology ladder bringing the deployment of OTA update technology from a reactive afterthought to a proactive strategic play in the development of automotive software.

OTA - Proactive, not Reactive - Be Strategic

Strategically integrating a new generation of AI-based over-the-air (OTA) update technology into the software development toolchain enables the OTA solution to be proactive - and react ahead of time - by learning software behavior during the development process. This means, when the vehicle leaves the production line, the software is already being understood and anomalies can be acted on proactively based on data and learnings done early in the process.

OTA - Expanded Functionality

This leads to the second point about the strategic nature of OTA technology. Not only is the application of the technology "shifting left," and finding itself in the development toolchain, OTA technology solutions have also matured beyond their original intent. In addition to creating and deploying the update file, today's solutions can monitor, detect, understand and validate software behavior. Today's OTA solutions need to be more intelligent than the solutions that came into the automotive industry as a spinoff technology from the mobile phone industry. Today's solutions need to be developed for the vehicle - because the vehicle is a heck of a lot more complicated than a mobile phone and there is human life relying on the vehicle software intelligence embedded in today's cars.

OTA - Cost Consideration and Frequency

Putting detailed costs of delivering OTA updates has never been discussed in the aisles or on stage at MWC, ELIV, CES or the Detroit Auto Show. Mainly, because of the reasons discussed above -OTA updates were done infrequently, only as bug fixes, and only to the head unit and TCU. This is changing and the cost of OTA updates need to be looked at under a microscope. According to a recent Automotive Software Survey, with 140 respondents from the automotive industry - it is expected that moving forward, there will be, at least one update per quarter - updating features and functionalities in the entire car.

Costs to consider include:

- Cloud-to-vehicle communications and data transmission costs

- Endpoint update technology integration costs

- Endpoint update memory costs

- Cloud storage costs

(To learn more, download the Cost Consideration Guide with Simulator.)

OTA - Money Maker

Here is where it gets really interesting and where it becomes blatantly clear that auto OEMs need strategic and proactive over-the-air update plans. Not only is OTA update technology shifting left, delivering more functionality and being leveraged more often for more ECUs - it is also on the path of becoming a major revenue stream for auto manufacturers. Based on the survey mentioned above, more than one-fifth of industry experts expect software sales to account for at least ten percent of carmakers' sales as early as 2027

If you follow any of our social media channels, you know that OTA Update costs can reach an astonishing $2.72 BILLION! (Based on the recent GuideHouse Insights study).

After a couple of months analyzing the costs drivers, led by update file size, including data transmission, cloud storage and dual bank memory costs, we tried to put ourselves in the (big) shoes of automotive R&D teams and ask two important questions:

1. If time is money - then what other actions are the R&D teams tasked with that are taking them away from their core task of innovating?
2. Can technology be the accountant and leave the R&D teams to be the innovators?

Only you can really answer these questions, but here are two important OTA-update costs drivers and my thoughts on how you can remove these barriers for your R&D teams.

Cost driver: delta file creation in the world of CI/CD

The use of Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) development toolchains such as Jenkins are enabling more frequent software releases that can be quarterly or even monthly.

Binary OTA update solutions compare binary files at the end of the development cycle to identify differences between source and target software versions. This is a cumbersome and costly method that is best suited for waterfall development and does not suit the speed required in CI/CD. In addition, when issues are discovered, tracing them back to the source and ensuring that any dependent software modules haven't been impacted can be time-consuming and costly in terms of engineering resources.

Suggested mitigation: adopt an OTA solution that seamlessly integrates into the toolchain, reducing the integration complexity and cost

The CI/CD environment requires an OTA update file generation technology that seamlessly integrates into the toolchain, reducing the overall complexity and cost. Integration into the development toolchain will enable it to automatically and continuously create an update file every time a new software version is created, greatly simplifying the update file creation process. In addition to the benefit of seamless integration, the update technology will be comparing differences in the lines-of-code leading to much smaller update files than a binary image diff comparison to reduce the cost of storing and transmitting the update files.

Cost driver: verification & documentation for homologation and regulatory bodies

Before any software is deployed to a vehicle, it must go through precise and demanding quality verification procedures that include clear documentation and evidence of the changes in the software code, code functionality and the influence the code has on other parts of the vehicle systems. Validation of the effect of the software changes on the entire automotive E/E system and evidence of such is a requirement in the newly adopted UNECE WP.29 regulations. This is a time-consuming and often a manual process, but one that is necessary for certification, regulation, warranty and audits.

Suggested mitigation: automate documentation process as an integral step of the update procedures

Line-Of-Code Intelligence technology automatically creates the update file by analyzing changes to the software functionality connections and behaviour. In this manner, in addition to creating an update file, the Line-Of-Code Intelligence technology also identifies, documents and provides evidence in a standard language of what has and has not changed between software versions and how these changes have affected regulated vehicle functionality. This information greatly streamlines documentation and homologation procedures. Further, as the Line-Of-Code update files are in the same standard file format as the rest of the automotive software, they will seamlessly fit with the existing documentation processes, thereby reducing additional unwanted procedural costs.

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on these suggestions, on the role of automotive developers, and OTA update costs - please write to us to start a conversation anytime!

Virtually every vehicle that is put out into the market is equipped with almost a hundred ECUs, millions of lines of code, and a slew of technical capabilities. These innovations are making cars around the world more secure and drastically improving the user experience.

Data connectivity is fueling vehicle electrification and automation and is the force that drives value for both OEMs and drivers. Data enables infotainment services including location intelligence and media, but also remote diagnostics, EV services, safety and emergency services, and predictive maintenance. My favorite connected car data use case is Innovative Insurance as suggested by otonomo - enabling models such as pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) and pay-how-you-drive (PHYD) usage-based insurance.

The ability to deliver Over-the-Air Updates is arguably one of the most important benefits of connected vehicles. Tesla uses Over-the-Air updates to add functionality ranging from in-car driver monitoring to automated seat heaters! Impressingly, Xpeng a leading Chinese smart electric vehicle company has cumulatively released 23 OTA updates for G3 and P7 users over a 15 month period, with 134 new functions added and 2,326 functions optimized for a total of 380,000 updates.

As data transmission becomes crucial to recognizing the in-vehicle technology benefits, the question arises: how much data does each vehicle require and what are the costs?

According to a new Guidehouse Insights report, the cost of data transmission for a 10-million vehicle fleet can reach over 20 PB of data and cost over $1 Billion, every year!

If we look at an individual ECU for example, for an in-vehicle infotainment system (IVI) update, the file size can be 500MB per vehicle, per update, on average. BMW recently updated 1 million vehicles’ IVI systems with file sizes ranging from 0.8GB to 1.2GB. Smaller ECU, such as seat memory or ambient lighting, running AutoSAR can have file sizes from 0.4MB to 2MB. For an average of one update every quarter and millions of vehicles in a fleet, the data transmission costs can quickly become astronomical.

Naturally, a fleet of millions of vehicles will be spread globally - adding another layer of complexity to the calculations: the costs of data around the world.

Based on an analysis by Spendemont, data costs per country can vary by over 99%! The country with the steepest cost of mobile data is Zimbabwe where 1GB can cost up to $75.20, and the country with the lowest costs is India where 1GB will cost a mere $0.26.

The average price of 1 GB of mobile data worldwide is $8.53. Here's a comparison of select countries:

Check out the very cool interactive map on Spendemon for more details.

With 5G cellular networks now being rolled out, it is possible that the cost of cellular data transmissions will come down however this will likely be counterbalanced by the number of OTA updates performed per vehicle each year as vehicle development becomes more agile and  CI/CD  methodologies are adopted.

But there is hope. OTA updates can become more frequent and stable while reducing costs by 98% thanks to Aurora Labs' Line-of-Code update technologies.

Our update files, built on intimate knowledge of the lines-of-code, their changes, dependencies and behavior, reduce file sizes from 500 MB down to 15MB and drop the projected costs from over a billion to just over $30 million. Try our OTA Update Cost Simulator to see and compare what data costs can be, based on a few factors such as file size, number of ECUs and fleet size.