Tesla appears to be using an obsolete model for keeping the onboard map file up-to-date.
Vehicle navigation systems that are not connected to the internet are typically updated annually with new maps - transferring the updated maps from optical disk, external drive or another computer - updating the entire database for large regions (such as all of North America). Even though Tesla vehicles are continuously connected via the internet, Tesla still uses the same model - periodically updating the entire map data base.
For 99.9999% of all vehicles, only an extremely small portion of that map database will ever be used - the area with a 200-250 mile radius of where they live, and the area along routes for any road trips they take. Almost all of the map data will never be used.
Tesla could do this much more efficiently - and keep the onboard map databases up-to-date by sending much more frequent updates to all vehicles, based on their current location - such as sending map updates for areas within a 200-250 radius of the current location, and updating only those map segments that have changed. And then when the vehicle started moving or routing outside of this area, Tesla could send updates for the new area (which would be a relatively small amount of data - likely less than several screens of satellite images).
Frequent incremental updating of the map data base would allow Tesla to reduce the bandwidth needed for map updates, and keep all vehicles up-to-date within days of any changes made to map data (vs. the 1-2 year delay we have been seeing).
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