VW recalls nearly 21,000 ID.4s over faulty battery software

theverge.com

14 points·latchkey··4 comments

I’ve been shopping for a new EV lately and it’s such a change that I’m evaluating the software stability and updating process as much as the base car functionality.

It’s kind of odd going to a dealership and saying, “I just want to mess with the UI for a while. Maybe test drive later.”

If you want stable software in your electric car, get a Renault. Simple, no upgrades (thus no barely tested code in your car) and rock solid battery management and powertrain operation.

OTA seems to make carmakers lazy and get the YOLO DevOps sickness.

It has generated some controversy, but one of the Ars Technica car editors has been saying for a bit now that every car is starting to be a "computer on wheels" and EVs are especially a "computer on wheels". With an EV even things like "driving feel" are less the domain of mechanical engineering and more the domain of firmware-described software curves. Software stability and update processes matter a whole lot more for EVs (especially if that sort of firmware that defines acceleration modes/curves or in this case battery management is itself updatable). The software starts to matter a great deal more than just how it mechanically drives in a test drive.

Imagine buying a VW EV “for the planet.” I’d bet good money it somehow manages to burn bunker oil while you’re not looking.

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