Why staggered over-the-air-updates?

[Carl_Drogo]

I've long been curious why Tesla seems to roll out software updates in a seemingly random fashion. I realize there are some features that are geographically specific and may require different programming due to regulations, road differences, etc., in different countries or states. But it seems like most of the generic software updates are also rolled out gradually and with no rhyme or reason as to the order in which people receive them. Has there ever been an explanation or a theory about this?

By comparison, when Apple issues a new iOS update it is instantly available to everyone, everywhere I think.

Just curious. Thanks.

 

[KyleDay]

Ask yourself who does testing for tesla and you'll answer your own question.

 

[Carl_Drogo]

Ask yourself who does testing for tesla and you'll answer your own question.

I don't think I'm as smart as you assume -- because I don't know the answer to that question. I can guess you're implying it's the customers (car owners) that are guinea pigs. Even if that's the case, how does Tesla determine which customers get to be the guinea pigs? It still seems pretty random. Things roll out to some people here, some people there, some more people a few weeks later, and then some more after 6 weeks, etc.

I know they have some employees and some small pool of customer beta testers. But the rest of the customers still seem strangely staggered over many weeks and diverse locations.

 

[P85_DA]

I don't think I'm as smart as you assume -- because I don't know the answer to that question. I can guess you're implying it's the customers (car owners) that are guinea pigs. Even if that's the case, how does Tesla determine which customers get to be the guinea pigs? It still seems pretty random. Things roll out to some people here, some people there, some more people a few weeks later, and then some more after 6 weeks, etc.

I know they have some employees and some small pool of customer beta testers. But the rest of the customers still seem strangely staggered over many weeks and diverse locations.

Staggering rollouts prevents issues with entire fleet at one time in case of bugs ..that was point of post above

 

[Carl_Drogo]

Staggering rollouts prevents issues with entire fleet at one time in case of bugs ..that was point of post above

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks.

 

[whitex]

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks.

You also may not realize, Tesla doesn't do traditional thorough testing like other car manufacturers, they use the "deploy fast, fail fast" silicon valley strategy. So for example, when their "windshield defrost" button actually changed to "frost windshield" in a Model S, it was the customers who found it, not Tesla QA or Elon (he lives in California so never uses defrost). Similar thing happening now with Model 3 and cold weather - it doesn't seem like Tesla ever tested the Model 3 in a real winter. Everyone gets software fixess, but if the fix requires new hardware, you don't get it unless you buy a new Tesla.

 

[Barry]

Tesla has no QC. That would be us.

 

[jonm93]

The main reason is simply server capacity. To try and push an update to hundreds of thousands of users simultaneously would take a huge server capacity that costs a lot. companies like apple already have that sort of server capacity set up for high volume services like itunes. There are secondary issues around targeting their most important markets or a group of owners affected by a certain bug. Tesla does have limited testing ability and some "early access" owners who get updates before the general public but yes, as the Model 3 winter issues show they have a long way to go to match the rigorous testing of other automakers.

 

[ucmndd]

The main reason is simply server capacity. To try and push an update to hundreds of thousands of users simultaneously would take a huge server capacity that costs a lot.

Nerp. Tesla uses AWS like basically everyone else in the world and can spin up or down capacity at will. In terms of pricing the cost difference is negligible to blast out 300,000 updates in 2 days vs 300,000 updates in 2 months.

 

[TexasEV]

The main reason is simply server capacity. To try and push an update to hundreds of thousands of users simultaneously would take a huge server capacity that costs a lot. companies like apple already have that sort of server capacity set up for high volume services like itunes. There are secondary issues around targeting their most important markets or a group of owners affected by a certain bug. Tesla does have limited testing ability and some "early access" owners who get updates before the general public but yes, as the Model 3 winter issues show they have a long way to go to match the rigorous testing of other automakers.

No, when there was a critical issue with the Model S firmware a few years ago, Tesla pushed out an update to the entire fleet within 48 hours. It’s that for less crucial updates Tesla does small batches so if there’s a serious bug it doesn’t affect the whole fleet, as others have explained above. Also not every update is needed for every car, and we’re probably seeing some A/B testing too.

 

[jonm93]

No, when there was a critical issue with the Model S firmware a few years ago, Tesla pushed out an update to the entire fleet within 48 hours. It’s that for less crucial updates Tesla does small batches so if there’s a serious bug it doesn’t affect the whole fleet, as others have explained above. Also not every update is needed for every car, and we’re probably seeing some A/B testing too.

Hmmm... fair enough. that was the line they told us when I was with Tesla but I guess it might have just been a cover story.