Over-the-air (OTA) updates for vehicles are software updates that a car receives over the mobile network, as a phone does, instead of in a workshop. An OTA platform is the software that makes this possible. It collects data from every electronic control unit in a vehicle and updates their software.
A modern car has dozens of small computers, each an electronic control unit (ECU). Each one runs one system, such as the brakes, the airbags or the motor. Before OTA, an update to any of them meant taking the car to a workshop. If the fault was serious, the carmaker had to recall every affected car and ask the owners to visit. With OTA, the carmaker prepares the update, tests it and sends it to the cars through the mobile network.
The platform does four things. It first lists which ECUs a vehicle has and which software version each runs. It then sends new versions, in stages, to chosen cars. It checks that each update really comes from the carmaker, so that nobody else can load software into a car. Finally, it checks that each ECU has installed the update correctly. If an installation fails, the old version is put back.
Say a maker of electric scooters finds that the battery shows the wrong charge near 10 percent. It fixes the software. It sends the update first to 500 scooters in Jaipur. It confirms that all 500 installed it and show the right figure. Then it sends the update to the other 50,000 scooters. The owners do nothing except confirm in the app.
Vehicles are updated only when it is safe. The vehicle should be parked, and the battery should have enough charge to complete the update.
The platform works with the connected car platform, which knows each car, and with the telematics device, which receives the update. It must reach the computers arranged in the vehicle E/E architecture. It updates the infotainment system and the software of electric two-wheelers. Updates to safety systems must follow safety certification. This makes a car a software-defined vehicle, one that gains features and fixes faults for years.