For 10 years, I have been writing about and taking the bullhorn to the mountain to talk about automotive software and the benefits of over-the-air updates. For three years, I have been writing about and taking the bullhorn to the mountain to talk about automotive software and the benefits of validating what happens when there is an over-the-air update.<\/p>\n
This week, I experienced what happens when an update is not validated and found myself at the epicenter of the unknown. I have a swanky new 2021 SUV. This model is no longer a boxy vehicle like previous models – it is sleek and fun and has many of the infotainment, ADAS and connectivity features we talk about on a daily basis in the automotive industry.<\/p>\n
When I first bought the car, I could say, “Call Mike,” and Mike was soon on the line. Now, I say “Call Mike,” and I get the response – “Ok, let me help you with that. I need some more information. Look at the notification on your device.”<\/p>\n
“Looking at my device,” forces distracted driving and is obviously not recommended. This prompt goes against every goal of bringing voice assistance into the car. I went to an online consumer OEM support group and read posts noting that this problem started in November 2021. With yes – an over-the-air update.<\/p>\n
I’m sure the update did fix some things – or add some things – I don’t know. I do know that the update screwed up my ability to call out by contact name (I can call out by dictating the phone number, but out of my 210 contacts, I know three phone numbers by heart.)<\/p>\n
So, after going through many menus, I finally went to the dealer for help.<\/p>\n
I met with a super nice support person. He tried – but his conclusion was that it was an Android Auto and phone problem and I had to go to AT&T.<\/p>\n
I went to the AT&T store and met with a super nice sales person. He told me he wasn’t certified to help me – he cannot give advice or guidance for anything in the car for liability reasons. He did give me a phone number for the AT&T Advanced Technology Group.<\/p>\n
I called the AT&T Advanced Technology Group and another really nice support person told me that her group only works on networking issues to the car – hotspots and things. This AT&T person told me I had to talk to the car manufacturer and sent me to a really nice support person at the OEM who also told me I was again not talking to the right group and he forwarded me to another support group within the OEM.<\/p>\n
Here is the kicker – I don’t know if the next support person is really nice. My next conversation was with a phone recording repeating, “My name is Joe. I can’t hear you. Please call back later.”<\/p>\n
I do love my new swanky, new SUV. This is my third purchase from this OEM.<\/p>\n
I also come from phone company parents – so I’m sure the phone company helped to put me through college.<\/p>\n
All of this really nice support and sales people are doing the best they can with the information they have.<\/p>\n
I know that we are in the early days of 100 million lines of automotive software code. I also know that validating software behavior throughout the entire car resulting from an over-the-air update is paramount and that the really nice sales and support people from both the automotive companies and the service providers – need to be educated on how to help consumers navigate to success.<\/p>\n
For now, I am still at the Epicenter of the Unknown. Please comment if you have any insights or fixes to this ‘call by contact name’ problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Aurora Labs’ Director of Industry Relations Mary Maguire about her experience with what happens when a software update is not validated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[70,115,6,114],"class_list":["post-3807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-automotive","tag-blog","tag-ota","tag-vsi"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n