Are cloud-based automotive electronics a real liability?

A

avacado11

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Aug 12, 2015
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Planning to get into commercial car hauling and have been looking at new one-ton dually diesel trucks.

Had my eye on a Silverado 3500HD LTZ but after reading about GMs new electronic package that basically ties the whole vehicle into the headunit, and subsequently bad OTA updates bricking the vehicle, I’m weary of having something with this type of capability. Last thing I want is a bricked truck when I have cargo on the back.

So I looked at Ram and Ford. Both Sync 4(standard in all fords) and Mopar uConnect 5 are connected cloud based systems. The only standalone system is uConnect 3 found in the base Tradesman Ram 3500.

Is this new connected OTA tech that big of a problem?

I’m not sure if Ford and Ram tie the rest of the vehicle into the headunit so if something fails there it would render the vehicle inop. I don’t care if the audio doesn’t work as long as it still starts up and drives.

I would like a Chevy for its IFS but I have no issues getting Ram or Ford. Just not sure if connected electronics is really that big of an issue to worry about
 
You are concerned to be concerned. What happens if Dieselgate 2.0 hits and they have to reflash your truck OTA and it winds up taking away power, fuel mileage, or reliability compared to the new truck you bought?

Or if Chevy pulls a Cloudflare "oopsie."

But then what are you going to do, if they're all like that?
 
Analog-1 said:
I don't think most vehicles will auto update while the vehicle is under way.
Click to expand...
My Chevy '21 3500 will not update while the vehicle is moving. I've also had a failed OTA update that did not affect the vehicle in any way. It was stuck trying to update for a couple weeks, then GM did something that got the update to apply. The failed update did not affect anything.
 
Cars have zero actual need for connectivity to any cloud except to charge you for things like heated seats, and to sell all of your telemetry without your consent. Dont believe that they "promise" they wont.
 
I don’t think sync3 updates anything but entertainment code - but … mine is an XL with no controls (seat heat, etc.) under its control. And, mine never updated right over the air on its own at all.

Conversely, Volvo forums complain that their heavily-connected vehicles lose dashboard functionality in weak signal areas, with button lag / response times, and at least a few posters experience regular blanking out of the screens to a green or magenta screen.

I am not a fan of OTA updates of any software responsible for a core function. I decided to avoid Volvo for this reason, which used to be a favorite brand.

The question is, with the vehicle you are looking at, what is the feasibility this would impact anything? If you don’t give the vehicle a Wi-Fi access, it can’t pull from your garage while home. Are you want to keep for-fee data connections per cellular? We aren’t, unless it comes free. Without a data uplink, it can’t do anything over the air.

I don’t think sync3 or 4 can do any updates to any of the critical modules - ECU, TCM, etc…
 
avacado11 said:
Planning to get into commercial car hauling and have been looking at new one-ton dually diesel trucks.

Had my eye on a Silverado 3500HD LTZ but after reading about GMs new electronic package that basically ties the whole vehicle into the headunit, and subsequently bad OTA updates bricking the vehicle, I’m weary of having something with this type of capability. Last thing I want is a bricked truck when I have cargo on the back.

So I looked at Ram and Ford. Both Sync 4(standard in all fords) and Mopar uConnect 5 are connected cloud based systems. The only standalone system is uConnect 3 found in the base Tradesman Ram 3500.

Is this new connected OTA tech that big of a problem?

I’m not sure if Ford and Ram tie the rest of the vehicle into the headunit so if something fails there it would render the vehicle inop. I don’t care if the audio doesn’t work as long as it still starts up and drives.

I would like a Chevy for its IFS but I have no issues getting Ram or Ford. Just not sure if connected electronics is really that big of an issue to worry about
Click to expand...
What about Mitsubishi or Hino? Huge support and, built commercial from the get go. How much weight, or vehicles are you planning on hauling?
 
andrew_j said:
Cloud based means you depend on cloud to keep running down the road. That is not true.

These updates might be hosted in cloud however cars do not require constant connection to operate normally.
Click to expand...
But what if the manufacturer wants to redo your firmware for whatever reason? The truck is connected to a cell service, on GMs dime.
 
eljefino said:
But what if the manufacturer wants to redo your firmware for whatever reason? The truck is connected to a cell service, on GMs dime.
Click to expand...
GM knows the liability of bricking a vehicle and cost of warranty/towing. Trust them far more then Crowdstrike who should be demolished in liability.
 
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