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VW of America says software update is coming “by the end of July”

11527 Views 51 Replies 25 Participants Last post by deepskier, 6 mo ago

stevemaller

Discussion Starter · Jul 15, 2021

I called VW of America a couple days ago to ask about the touch screen unresponsiveness and a couple other problems, and the tech with whom I spoke (who was very polite and thorough) said there was a software update for the ID.4 coming “by the end of July”. When I pressed him for details, he said that he believed that it will attempt to address some of the touchscreen responsiveness issues, among other things. He couldn’t be specific as he said he has not seen it himself. But he repeated that it would be out very soon. So that is encouraging.

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ericy

· #2 · Jul 15, 2021

Maybe to the ID3 1st movers club by end of July. The rest of us get it Sept.

JimmyVW

· #3 · Jul 15, 2021

ericy said:
Maybe to the ID3 1st movers club by end of July. The rest of us get it Sept.

jup, agree. currently a select group of 15 first movers in Germany are getting the update. If that runs issue-free the rest of the first-movers will follow.
so personally wouldn't expect an update in the US soon.

FinleyFinn

· #4 · Jul 15, 2021

Here is a preview of the upcoming OTA update.

Reactions: 3

Spin

· #5 · Jul 15, 2021

We can only hope this goes smoothly.

ixlr08

· #6 · Jul 15, 2021

According to the update procedure for Europe, your car needs to be connected to the WeConnect App as part of the update procedure/requrement. Does that mean in the US we are going to need to use the CarNet App since we don't have the WeConnect App? I bet that is going to go smooth!!??

Reactions: 1

Huey52

· #7 · Jul 15, 2021

We've been led to believe that in the USA it will be a cellular OTA update as a more comm-consistent methodology vs. WiFi, especially in more remote areas vs. Europe. But again led to believe.

ixlr08 said:
According to the update procedure for Europe, your car needs to be connected to the WeConnect App as part of the update procedure/requrement. Does that mean in the US we are going to need to use the CarNet App since we don't have the WeConnect App? I bet that is going to go smooth!!??

Reactions: 1

ericy

· #8 · Jul 15, 2021

ixlr08 said:
According to the update procedure for Europe, your car needs to be connected to the WeConnect App as part of the update procedure/requrement. Does that mean in the US we are going to need to use the CarNet App since we don't have the WeConnect App? I bet that is going to go smooth!!??

We don't really know at this point - nobody has said anything that is US specific.

Some of the 1st movers have started getting the initial emails - they have to respond to "opt-in". I have not yet seen anyone report that their cars have actually started to receive any actual software.

The 1st movers are essentially the guinea pigs for the process - if there are problems, they will likely show up for them. Since people need to opt-in, anyone who doesn't want to be a guinea pig doesn't have to take the update - they can wait a bit.

toomanywords

· #9 · Jul 15, 2021

Huey52 said:
We've been led to believe that in the USA it will be a cellular OTA update as a more comm-consistent methodology vs. WiFi, especially in more remote areas vs. Europe. But again led to believe.

Since one of the problems I'm hoping a software update fixes is the frequent spans where the car's eSIM appears to just shut itself off and not connect to CarNet or the LTE network at all, I guess I'll be rooting for the update to push when it's working!

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ixlr08

· #10 · Jul 15, 2021

From the video I saw there were 15 guinea pigs in the EU that were getting the update this week. IF that worked as expected then the 1st movers would get it. IF that worked, then it would be open to all ID's in the EU. The update didn't go thru the WeConnect app, but the WeConnect app was needed to initiate the update.
U-tube'r "Battery Life" is one of the initial 15 and he has a video describing the install process and what is in the update.

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Froggy

· #11 · Jul 15, 2021

Of which year?

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TPG

· #12 · Jul 15, 2021

I can't wait to see what new bugs we'll get!!

Reactions: 4

ericy

· #13 · Jul 15, 2021

ixlr08 said:
From the video I saw there were 15 guinea pigs in the EU that were getting the update this week. IF that worked as expected then the 1st movers would get it. IF that worked, then it would be open to all ID's in the EU. The update didn't go thru the WeConnect app, but the WeConnect app was needed to initiate the update.
U-tube'r "Battery Life" is one of the initial 15 and he has a video describing the install process and what is in the update.

The thing I haven't seen discussed is exactly what bugs are fixed, and any other substantive changes. Scheduled charging and plug-and-change are two things that come to mind. It would take someone knowledgeable to test these things out properly.

I honestly don't care that much about icons for the home button or other such fluff.

Reactions: 3

deepskier

· #14 · Jul 15, 2021

FinleyFinn said:
Here is a preview of the upcoming OTA update.

Going by youtube CC translation.

He mentions something about the update being two parts. Not clear if he already got both or just the 1st part.
This 2.3 release has been tested internally since March.
Major focus seems to be the infotainment and camera modules.

2.3 Changes mentioned in the video are:

When the update is available for you it will show release notes on the car screen before installation which details all the changes.
Home screen with grid is horizontal scroll now, and is separated from custom screens using a 2nd tap of the home button.
Overall UI speed is improved
Updated ID light functions (more alerts I think will activate the ID light)
Seems to remember which submenu you were in before (he shows pressing Nav and it opening on Map, don't think it does that now)
looks like its now easier to manually specify a different charger than the one recommended on a route plan.
dynamic lighting (matrix function) improved (not very helpful in US) but perhaps also dynamic high beam is updated.
VW mentions improved stability which I think means bug fixes

Discussion with VW representative touched on paid updates, they acknowledged the possibility but likely a limited scenario. They plan continuous free updates foremost.
Unlikely to do things like performance upgrades. In Europe, insurance is tied to vehicle performance so likely a no-go.
They are serious about quarterly software updates.

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deepskier

· #15 · Jul 15, 2021

This is the other video with more info. Two part update, 1st is 40 minutes 2nd is 3 hours. Future updates are likely to be smaller with periodic large updates.
There is a comment that the media player gets an extra screen. I hope it lets you see what is currently playing within the radio/media section. I was shocked that you can go select a radio station or media, it starts playing but then you have to go to the home screen to see what is actually playing....

ericy

· #16 · Jul 15, 2021

deepskier said:
He mentions something about the update being two parts. Not clear if he already got both or just the 1st part.
This 2.3 release has been tested internally since March.
Major focus seems to be the infotainment and camera modules.

In the video, I believe that he is updating a test car that is in the showroom - mainly to demonstrate what the process looks like to the end user.

The claim is that the cars only check for updates once a week. So even once VW releases the update to any given VIN, it could be days before a download actually happens. There is no way to force the car to "check now" for updates - or at least that's the claim. You just have to wait.

The car also checks for updates immediately after having installed an update. So basically the 1st part downloads - once you install it, the car will then check again, and only then get the 2nd part.

For some technical reason, the camera is disabled during the download of the 1st part. It isn't completely clear why this is the case, or whether the camera is also disabled during the download of the 2nd part.

On the German forums, the only activity I have seen are that people have gotten the email to opt in, but nobody has yet reported the download having begun. There are also people there who talk like they already have it (maybe beta testers, possibly under NDA, unclear how they got it, perhaps installed via USB and not OTA - I can't tell if they really have it, or are just another internet loudmouth who is guessing or repeating rumors). All that being said, they seem to have very specific lists of the modules and versions - you can decide for yourself. Use Chrome to auto-translate if you don't speak German.

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TPG

· #17 · Jul 15, 2021

deepskier said:
Discussion with VW representative touched on paid updates, they acknowledged the possibility but likely a limited scenario.

I wonder if they will monetize the bug fixes. Some people may pay serious coin for important ones like the scheduled charging.

JimmyVW

· #18 · Jul 15, 2021

TPG said:
I wonder if they will monetize the bug fixes. Some people may pay serious coin for important ones like the scheduled charging.

No, they’ve confirmed that they wouldn’t do that

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ixlr08

· #19 · Jul 15, 2021

Some of the GTX cars seem to have update 2.2 in them, some still seem to be on 2.1. Update 2.2 has many of the 2.3 updates. From what I read, the camera's are disabled as the software for them is being updated. It was stated that the camera's will not be disabled in the next, much larger, update. From what I have seen, first update will take 40 minutes or so to install, the next one is much larger and will take about 3 hours.

theboomr

· #20 · Jul 15, 2021

deepskier said:
There is a comment that the media player gets an extra screen. I hope it lets you see what is currently playing within the radio/media section. I was shocked that you can go select a radio station or media, it starts playing but then you have to go to the home screen to see what is actually playing....

You don't actually have to do that, although I thought that at first as well and was quite frustrated by it.

When you're in the radio "app", swipe horizontally from the right edge of the touchscreen, and it will bring out a now playing panel, similar to how you can swipe down from the top edge to show those shortcut buttons.

I don't hate the design of this, but...it is NOT discoverable enough, not by a long shot...the indicator that there is a screen you can swipe out needs to be WAY more noticeable/obvious. I'm in my late 20s with perfect eyesight, and I'm a software engineer and tech enthusiast, and I didn't even find this swipe-out screen on my own, someone on the forum here had to point it out to me.

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