...updates/new versions are first released in Europe ...

Hey wait don't count us out, DOORS released first in the US!

"Coming waves of updates" has a certain ring to it so I'm pleased to see they clarified that when they described "canary releases." The earnestness of communication is refreshing -- certainly a standard I wish VoA would aspire to.

 

The earnestness of communication is refreshing -- certainly a standard I wish VoA would aspire to.

Any communication is refreshing here.

 

"Staged releases" is what I assumed they meant. At first glance "waves of updates" could read like there are a whole series of OTAs lined up to be deployed in quick succession. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, it just came across as a possibly confusing choice of words; I'm glad they clarified it with more detail.

 

Ooh, that makes sense.

 

Non-native English speaker no doubt translating from German.

To me this confirms what we’ve said in other threads as to the waves of updates and why. I posted the detailed lists of all the modules and the updated software versions from their respective TSBs. Almost 100% overlap in modules and version codes with the later cars needing fewer and fewer individual updates to get to the ‘baseline’.

The way I read the rest of it, and from what we’ve heard from Chris and others, is basically VW knows the software stack in every car. And when they do decided to release an update, they will gate it by VIN and go slowly: do maybe 3-5% of the known good cars, wait a bit, then the next group, before eventually opening it to everyone. Very typical software release cycle.

The consent is really the only other new thing. A 3.7 feature manifest would have been epic. Otherwise it’s nice to confirm for me what we already suspected but not really anything new here either.

 

A 3.7 feature manifest would have been epic. Otherwise it’s nice to confirm for me what we already suspected but not really anything new here either.

I can give you the list of new features: -

This was confirmed by VW when there was noise about cars getting updated from 3.5 to 3.7; reality was that they updated the numbering only and further that no new features are in 3.7.

 

And the link at the bottom isn’t of much help for us in the US as that’s to the non-North America page for software updates. Good to have as a reference since later you can get Google translate to translate the site from German to English when they do publish something.

 

Figures. LOL

 

FYI it's happening:



EDIT: ID.3 MY20 on 3.2, Hungary

 

So far we had no problem with random choosen vehicles in EU for OTA.
My advice would be to inspect 12V battery SOH before doing OTA.
Any car parts store has tool to inspect 12V battery under load for SOH.
Remember to remind person doing it to remove 12V battery terminal before doing test.

 

So far we had no problem with random choosen vehicles in EU for OTA.
My advice would be to inspect 12V battery SOH before doing OTA.
Any car parts store has tool to inspect 12V battery under load for SOH.
Remember to remind person doing it to remove 12V battery terminal before doing test.

Just got an OTA for the owners manual, was that it?

 

No, deliveries on those started around Christmas.

 

The "International" link for VW Software Updates. Pretty good info on this page, and those pages linked from here.

I can't post the link, new poster, but someone might repost... add this to the vw.com url: /en/owners-and-services/connectivity-and-apps/vehicle-software-updates.html

Just in case anyone is interested

 

Vehicle Software Updates | Owners and Services | Volkswagen® USA (vw.com) is the link you had

If you want a preview on this side of the Atlantic of what's to come however, probably the better 'VW' link is this one: ID. Software Update (volkswagen.de) For which you will have to rely on you browser's translate function to translate from German to English, but it does a pretty good job.

3.5, nor 3.7, are listed there yet though as pointed out by @NeverhadanEVbefore. 3.5 has been shelved, so no need to have it on the page. And from the original post, the manifest for 3.7 is still being built so nothing on the page yet for it either. VW Germany has been pretty good about updating this page though soon after they make an announcement about the contents of an upcoming OTA.

 

Well, the trouble I think is that the picture posted above at the top from the ID drivers club implies that 3.7 is NOT dead (bullet 3) and that it will replace the previously only factory installed for some few cars 3.5. At least in Europe, since we don't get that treatment in VWoA.

I can find plenty of YT videos of cars in Europe with 3.5 installed (Chris from Battery Life did this one

and this one Is the VW Route planner in Id Software 3.5 any good? (youtube.com)), but of course since there is no list of features on a release to release basis, who knows what's different about it conclusively. He gives a decent rundown at the point in the link.

Regardless, the software is a mess, the US fleet of ID.4's is all over the place and they are, IMHO, deperately trying to get it updated across 3 years of cars and multiple production cuts ins inside of those years all to a relatively same baseline from which they can TRY to do platform OTA's from. 2021's under what became the 97ZZ recall, early 2022's under the 97HA/HB technical service bulletins, and now the later 2022's under 97HC. By the time VW gets around to being able to do any consistent OTA anyone who leased a car early on will be up and others will have left the platform entirely.

The folks that stay around the longest MAY benefit from future software updates, but it seems unlikely. 3.x is basically on life support at this point.

 

^the wording by Skoda is weird but they say as it is ’dead’ all cars could be updated to that version [regrdless of whether what version a car currently has].

Compared to the aborted OTA last year, they were updating to 3.0 when 3.2 had already been out for a while.

This was why I read it to mean it’s finished/complete, and any new development - to which Skoda also referred to - would be in a newer version.

edit: here’s the post by Skoda I keep referring to. It’s ”obsolete”, not ”dead”, and 3.x, not 3.7 specifically.

 

That's an interesting way to describe car software. We don't usually refer to active software baselines as 'obsolete'. Windows 95 is obsolete (as in it pretty much no longer runs on modern equipment and nobody in their right mind would use it). Windows 7 is no longer for sale, but most would not consider is 'obsolete' and there are plenty of computers still running it and people installing it (via downgrade rights) just fine. Granted, they did use quote marks.

But yeah, those 2 different posts, as I read them, don't really contradict each other in principle.

• 3.5 is done, it was installed at the factory only, and it will never be delivered otherwise.
• 3.7 is also 'done', but it's not presently OTA ready. Here is where the statements differ. Your Skoda post says no matter what they do, it will never be OTA because it could brick you car. The VW post implies that they are still planning for it to be OTA.

Regardless, neither version seems to add any new features other than possible bug fixes, etc. in the background and VW is still trying to get the cars baselined to a level where OTA is even possible for major releases. It appears, as I noted, that after 2+ years and multiple baselines, VW still has not completely figured out OTA. And with 4.x on the horizon with the 2024 models, one can see why CARiad wants to move on and quit adding/fixing 3.x. Nothing before 2024 will ever have 4.x and beyond, so for them it's a 'waste' of time and resources as there is no revenue in it at this point. It's the price we are all paying for being early adopters. Tesla was much the same a decade ago, but nobody remembers those days because it was too long ago. Remember at one point to keep going, Model S owners had to choose to fork over thousands of dollars to have the computer in their car upgraded.

I wonder, would we as a community be willing to 'pay for' pre-heating on an individual basis if they needed the revenue to make it worth working on? Clearly I don't think VW will ever be as bold as Telsa and offer a complete computer upgrade package (though I think they could/should).

 

I wonder, would we as a community be willing to 'pay for' pre-heating on an individual basis if they needed the revenue to make it worth working on? Clearly I don't VW will ever be as bold as Telsa and offer a complete computer upgrade package (though I think they should).

This is kind of how I see CarNet, if they don't add more features or improve the current ones I don't see how VW can expect to get a lot of reoccurring subscription revenue.

 

In this vein, I just had "OUI3" activated for my car. Description says "ICAS1 for 3.4", which is kinda weird as my car has, to my knowledge, always had 3.2 from the factory. That's what it originally said and the dealer told me, 3.5 was not released and I've not received a system update OTA or otherwise. Just additional stuff and the PWR update. Then again, I've seen no one post a screen that said "3.4" and yet Volkswagen does list it as something that was released, so...

As for what is is, not much, but looks promising.

"This update does not contain any additional functions, but only necessary adjustments for vehicles of certain model weeks in order to prepare them for subsequent updates.
Such small updates take place regularly and equalise differences between the different versions so that all affected vehicles have the same initial status before a major update.

Best regards
Your Volkswagen ID. Team"

 

Interesting. I wonder if my car is fully on the expected baseline then. 10/2020 built, but got updated to 3.2 last September by dealership.

On one hand it'd be cool to see OTA in action on it.
On the other hand I'm afraid what will happen if one of the modules is possibly left behind on some ancient version. Guess time will tell.

 

Interestingly, it appears that Audi has figured out how to do pre-heating in the Q4, which is based on MEB. And a MUCH higher average charging rate.

 

Interestingly, it appears that Audi has figured out how to do pre-heating in the Q4, which is based on MEB. And a MUCH higher average charging rate.

Which model year? Volkswagen ID.7, ID.4, ID.5 and Skoda Enyaq 85 and 85x all have it. Since this year (not sure if the L&K edition of Enyaq had it last fall; it did have the new engine).

 

Wow, that's great, and yet so frustrating that activating the preheating is tied to selecting a VW-recognized DCFC site, or in Bjorn's case gaming the system with a ghost destination.

And what was up with that wildly optimistic SOC-upon-arrival estimate of 46%? That's a pretty far cry from 6%.

 

Bug fixes is what I want. New features are interesting in theory.

 

That’s what to expect.

• 3.5 is bi-directional charging (hidden in the US?)
• 3.7 is just fixes and optimization.

 

Just to park this here, I now have OUF8 (PWR calibration) and OUI3 (ICAS1 update to/for 3.4) done. The latter supposedly updated four modules.

There are several reports of a snappier AWD after those, but nothing official.

What I did find is that I know have like 95 % regen available at freezing point temperatures (just below 0’C), when earlier I had maybe 75 % even after a longer drive.

Now this might be due to having the car inside for the night (yesterday) and charging from 40 % (today), so I will need to check what it looks like later, but yesterday the car was parked outside for several hours which I assume would have cooled down the battery and today, the charging completed ~5 hours before I started the drive, so again, I would have assumed it to cool off.

I am also seeing lower consumption - again, reported by others - which I would scratch as higher ambient temperature.. except that the explanation of a warmer battery is staring me in the face.

 

What I did find is that I know have like 95 % regen available at freezing point temperatures (just below 0’C), when earlier I had maybe 75 % even after a longer drive.

Sadly, this seems to have been a warm battery which takes really looooong to cool down. First day 4-5 hours outdoors without driving didn't cool it off. Second day the same after charging from below 20 % to 80 % on 3,7kW and evidently it was still warm.

Now, it's back to the usual about 75 % even if I preheat the cabin for 30 minutes before departure. Consumption seems to be slightly lower, but I can't be sure.

 

To continue, now that the roads were dry for a while - today, winter is back with inches of snow - I had the option to test the AWD in Sport mode.

At least on launch, it is snappier. I know how it used to accelare, and now I didn’t even floor it and my head snapped back way harder than it used to. Same confirmed by family.

Possibly more torque allowed from stop?

 

And today I got the calibration for the motor OTA. The one where they warn that on the next drive it might seem like it loses power for a second or two?

Didn't appear anywhere on-line, just in the car (I checked a few days ago). After it was done, I believe the car stated it needs to go on-line to finish the update (car is always on-line anyways). I think it stated OUF8-A1, which would match the fact that I did infact get and update called OUF8 earlier. Sure, like a few months ago, but no rush... Didn't notice anything on the drive after.

 

Loss of power is related after inverter firmware update to the calibration for rotor vs stators alignment ( new propulsion unit and inverter is using pulse technology and it needs to acknowledge correct orientation of rotor).
Stay safe and burn rubber not your soul.