Are the references to firmware and software the same?

[bottomsup]

i know what the difference is in general but I see these words used as synonyms on the forums. Are there two different types of updates or one?

 

[RayK]

I believe that in the context of these forum threads, software and firmware are being used interchangeably in reference to over-the-air (OTA) updates to Teslas. There has been a recent mention of the bootloader update to the Battery Management System which appears to be only available with a physical visit to a service center and not OTA.

 

[RDoc]

Yes they're are used (incorrectly) interchangeably here. The only excuse I can think of is that if the promised API ever exists, there could be software that was user loadable. Of course, there's a very strong argument that such code should be referred to as scripting.

 

[Nocturnal]

Firmware tends to drive basic things like your computer's CPU (bios). OTA updates are probably all software as I don't think they would want to risk an over the air update to firmware.