Software Updates
11-16-2005, 06:18 PM
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When will BMW be able to do wireless software updates? They could send a wireless signal to your car for software updates. Today they do a completely new software install instead of just updates or patches and it takes a long time, but soon they should be able to send a signal with updates to your car.
Imagine, you start your car, you get a message in Idrive saying: There is a new update available, it takes 30 minutes to install and you must keep your ignition switch on for the install, do you want to do it now or later?
No more dealer visits for software updates, some updates can be mandatory and some optional.
It does not make sense to do the installs one car at a time and with a cable connection, they should be able to do wireless updates and all cars in one shot, just like a PC in a network.
Imagine, you start your car, you get a message in Idrive saying: There is a new update available, it takes 30 minutes to install and you must keep your ignition switch on for the install, do you want to do it now or later?
No more dealer visits for software updates, some updates can be mandatory and some optional.
It does not make sense to do the installs one car at a time and with a cable connection, they should be able to do wireless updates and all cars in one shot, just like a PC in a network.
11-16-2005, 06:25 PM
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My Ride: 2008 M5 -- Exterior: Silverstone, Interior: Black. Fully Loaded. That just about sums it up! :-)
Hi Casper,
Not a bad idea. That's how my software updates are handled on my IBM Win PC and my Apple G4 laptop. Problem is that this *assumes* that the update/upgrade *IS* better than my existing version. The U.S. Lawyers will be all over this I suspect -- Maybe the upload only works if key is in position 1 and the car is not moving.
Anyway, I do like that idea.
Not a bad idea. That's how my software updates are handled on my IBM Win PC and my Apple G4 laptop. Problem is that this *assumes* that the update/upgrade *IS* better than my existing version. The U.S. Lawyers will be all over this I suspect -- Maybe the upload only works if key is in position 1 and the car is not moving.
Anyway, I do like that idea.
11-16-2005, 06:34 PM
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True and entirely possible. I read somewhere a while ago that many manufacturers will be going in this direction in the future and that places like urban parking garages would be "hot spots" for the cars to be able to receive updates.
The way I see it, there would have to be either a hard drive or a bunch of RAM in the car since you'd probably have to have two "partitions" so that the current software version could live in one and the new software upgrade could live in the other. This way, the car could take a partial download of the new stuff and pick up where it left off the next time it was parked and in range of an access point. Once the upgrade was downloaded, the car could boot off the second partition but the first partition would still be available to fall back on in case something didn't upgrade properly.
For what it's worth, my dealer uses some sort of wireless connection to the car to hook it up to the DIS tester. I guess it's like a wireless bridge in that they plug it into the diagnostic connector in the footwell but then they simply lay the unit on the floor or on the seat and it wirelessly connects back to the computer (DIS).
I can't say for sure it that's the way they do CIP updates...
The way I see it, there would have to be either a hard drive or a bunch of RAM in the car since you'd probably have to have two "partitions" so that the current software version could live in one and the new software upgrade could live in the other. This way, the car could take a partial download of the new stuff and pick up where it left off the next time it was parked and in range of an access point. Once the upgrade was downloaded, the car could boot off the second partition but the first partition would still be available to fall back on in case something didn't upgrade properly.
For what it's worth, my dealer uses some sort of wireless connection to the car to hook it up to the DIS tester. I guess it's like a wireless bridge in that they plug it into the diagnostic connector in the footwell but then they simply lay the unit on the floor or on the seat and it wirelessly connects back to the computer (DIS).
I can't say for sure it that's the way they do CIP updates...
11-17-2005, 07:36 AM
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My Ride: 2010 550i M Sport Package - Alpine White/Blk Nasca Leather, Premium hi-fi system, Sat Radio, Nav, Cold Weather Package, Value Package, Shift Paddles, Comfort Access keyless entry, Power rear Sunshade, Front Ventilated seats, Split fold-down rear seats, Heated rear seats, Automatic high beams
using MSI packages and certs.
11-17-2005, 07:41 AM
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My Ride: G30 M550i
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Originally Posted by Mercy' post='199528' date='Nov 17 2005, 11:36 AM
using MSI packages and certs.
(I couldn't resist...)
11-17-2005, 08:54 AM
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My Ride: '04 530i Mystic Blue, European Delivery, Steptronic, Prem Pkg, Cold Weather Pkg, Nav, Heads Up, Active Cruise, Rear Sunshade, Rear Side Airbags, Rear Seat Heating, Park Distance Control, Xenon, CPT9000 GSM phone, red rear reflectors, Sirius!!!!
I met a Honda engineer a few years back who told me that they were doing work on updating the map database for their NAV system over integrated cellular service if a customer subscribed to this service.
11-17-2005, 09:20 AM
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Problem is every car needs different software depending on installed systems and hardware versions of the systems
11-17-2005, 09:35 AM
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My Ride: '05 545i, silver gray, black leather with anthracite maple wood, sport package, premium sound, navigation, cold weather package, electric rear sunshade, folding rear seat, satellite radio prep, PIAA 4150K fogs, red rear reflectors, hardwired Valentine One
Given the issues dealers have updating CIP (my dealer says it takes a few hours if nothing goes wrong, but can take hours and hours if problems), I don't think this is something we'll see anytime soon.
11-17-2005, 09:48 AM
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My Ride: 2013 535i (White with Oyster Interior. Premium Package, Navigation, Technology Pacakge, Park Distance Control, and Rear View Camera)
The idea is great. But what if updating CIP failed, and my car is no where near the dealer. What if my car won't even start up??
