Why does Tesla do rolling FW updates?

[jimmyz80]

It seems like Tesla always staggers the deployment of any firmware updates, such that it takes days or weeks for everyone to get it. I work for one of the large cloud computing companies, and this approach seems antiquated based on current tech. They could easily deliver the file to every S/X within a few minutes if they really wanted to.

I guess staggering may also give them some ability to stop an update that ends up bricking cars, before it spreads too much. I'd hope they do better testing than that before rolling out updates though...

 

[HankLloydRight]

They can do a fleet update, and have done a few times in the past. They just choose not to.

In other words, yes, we are all beta-testers.

They've also sent out updates with bugs and recalled them promptly. They've been known to force a downgrade once in a while, too.

 

[brkaus]

It's a risk/return thing. Costs a lot more to tow in a car compared to bringing an iPhone into the Apple Store.

It's complicated by their continuous upgrade methodology. There are likely many variations of cars out in the wild.