Software updates - why is Porsche so far behind.......?

[daveo4EV]

then let's be clear

_NONE_ of Porsche's current generation vehicle's being sold are structured, engineered, architected or friendly to OTA updates…

any software updates that are released must be done by a dealer service technician with Porsche service computer and the car in a cool dark room where it's quiet and plugged into an external power supply to keep it from bricking during the update process - it's a fragile process and not particularly quick/efficient and riddled with the potential to brick a vehicle or component due to operator/service-technician error or even faults in the update process that require it to be "re-try'd" should it fail on any given attempt.

while OTA updates may be in Porsche's future - it's not for any of the existing vehicle's currently being sold world wide.

the reasons are complex and addresseing them goes to the root of how Porsche has structured it's design, engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing processes for decades - undoing all that and moving forward is complex and they are already behind schedule.

but saying "the other guys can do it" does not make it so or make it easy for Porsche to do the same.

NOTE: there are some limited OTA updates for PCM 6 but I wouldn't consider them dealer service level changes - for example I did get youTube and some other "apps" OTA on my 2024 Macan Turbo EV…without visiting the dealership…and routinely get PCM navigation data updates on all 4 of my Porsche's (MY 2021 -> 2024 vehicles)

also if you want to have a meaninful conversation about OTA you have to be more specific. Posche does do OTA updates for the myPorsche app - but they can not do OTA updates to flash the firmware for their LED matrix, headlights, air suspension, steering, or brake controllers for example - but they can do OTA updates for the PCM Navigation map data…even in 2026 some of these mechanical parts that contain software/firmware may only be updated by physically removing the part and installing a new part with new firmware (although that is a shrinking number of supply chain components)…but my 2021 Cayenne's AC/DC onBoard charger can not have it firmware "flashed" by Porsche service - so to "upgrade" the firmware Porsche swapped the part to deal with a Check Engine light issue…the CEL could only be resolved by new firmware for the OBC, and hte only way to get an OBC with new firmware was to physically swap the part…welcome to the 2020's people!!

without discussing what level/layers of the vehicle software we are discussing it typical degrades into talking across purposes…

if you want a vehicle with full stack OTA updates Porsche is not your vendor - simple as that

expecting Porsche to "match" other vehicle vendors with rapid and frequent software updates is simply unrealistic and if you feel Porsche "lied" to you about this, you may be right - but they are no where near any sort of vehicle architecture that would support such a feature.

compared to Porsche BMW is much further ahead in this space for example, and the Chinese, and of course Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian…but Porsche is probably one of the back markers if not _THE_ back marker in this space.

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[Petzi]

then let's be clear

_NONE_ of Porsche's current generation vehicle's being sold are structured, engineered, architected or friendly to OTA updates…

any software updates that are released must be done by a dealer service technician with Porsche service computer and the car in a cool dark room where it's quiet and plugged into an external power supply to keep it from bricking during the update process.

while OTA updates may be in Porsche's future - it's not for any of the existing vehicle's currently being sold world wide.

the reasons are complex and addresseing them goes to the root of how Porsche has structured it's engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing processes for decades - undoing all that and moving forward is complex and they are already behind schedule.

but saying "the other guys can do it" does not make it so or make it easy for Porsche to do the same.

NOTE: there are some limited OTA updates for PCM 6 but I wouldn't consider them dealer service level changes - for example I get get youTube and some other "apps" OTA on my 2024 Macan Turbo EV…without visiting the dealership…

also if you want to have a meaninful conversation about OTA you have to be more specific. Posche does do OTA updates for the myPorsche app - but they can not do OTA updates to flash the firmware for their headlights, air suspension, steering, or brake controllers for example - but they can do OTA updates for the PCM Navigation map data…even in 2026 some of these mechanical parts that contain software/firmware may only be updated by physically removing the part and installing a new part with new firmware (although that is a shrinking number of supply chain components)…but my 2021 Cayenne's AC/DC onBoard charger can not have it firmware "flashed" by Porsche service - so to "upgrade" the firmware Porsche swapped the part to deal with a Check Engine light issue…

without discussing what level/layers of the vehicle software we are discussing it typical degrades into talking across purposes…

if you want a vehicle with full stack OTA updates Porsche is not your vendor - simple as that

expecting Porsche to "match" other vehicle vendors with rapid and frequent software updates is simply unrealistic and if you feel Porsche "lied" to you about this, you may be right - but they are no where near any sort of vehicle architecture that would support such a feature.

compared to Porsche BMW is much further ahead in this space for example, and the Chinese, and of course Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian…but Porsche is probably one of the back markers if not _THE_ back marker in this space.

please name one car that does „meaningful „ operating systems ota. (except tesla but they have other grave problems) most cars even do no such updates at all. what Chinese car has ota updates? you dont even have chinese cars in usa. for tesla it is a business model they sell what has been promised ten year’s ago as ota today..

 

[daveo4EV]

please name one car that does „meaningful „ operating systems ota. (except tesla but they have other grave problems) most cars even do no such updates at all. plus: this had been never promised to you. you did not buy it.

most of the chinese brands if not all of them, Rivian, Lucid, Tesla…but I do not have a survey of the entire industry.

but these cars are setting expectations for the entire industry and even Ford's CEO acknowledges how far that have to go...

GM is coming close with their newest EV's and Ford has made major progress - although I do not know precisely how deep into the stack of firmware OTA updates can and can on reach…

 

[daveo4EV]

here for example is a Taycan service bulletin to update the firmware on a battery sensor…

I betcha Porsche wishes they could do OTA updates for this sensor software…free service visit please 1 or 2 hours of shop labor (billed to Porsche by the dealer service) costs Porsche actual money to fix this bug - I betcha the change is nearly trivial…and that's before you include the loaner vehicle for the customer and the general customer satisfaction of having to bring the vehicle to dealer service in the first place…

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2026/MC-11028378-0001.pdf

 

[Petzi]

here for example is a Taycan service bulletin to update the firmware on a battery sensor…

I betcha Porsche wishes they could do OTA updates for this sensor software…free service visit please 1 or 2 hours of shop labor (billed to Porsche by the dealer service) costs Porsche actual money to fix this bug - I betcha the change is nearly trivial…and that's before you include the loaner vehicle for the customer and the general customer satisfaction of having to bring the vehicle to dealer service in the first place…

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2026/MC-11028378-0001.pdf

why is this a problem for you. simple must not be better. you bring the car, get a loaner and the tech checks your cars every component while updating your car.

 

[daveo4EV]

most of the chinese brands if not all of them, Rivian, Lucid, Tesla…but I do not have a survey of the entire industry.

but these cars are setting expectations for the entire industry and even Ford's CEO acknowledges how far that have to go...

GM is coming close with their newest EV's and Ford has made major progress - although I do not know precisely how deep into the stack of firmware OTA updates can and can on reach…

cool your jets - I'm not saying Porsche claimed to have OTA updates or that I expected it - I simply trying to normalize the OTA conversation and baseline this thread with the "FACT" that Porsche's OTA capabilities are very limited and for any Porsche customer to expect otherwise is simply not realistic.

also you keep saying Tesla has a lot of problems - and I don't believe you have the data to back that up - there are isolated problems and not everything is perfect but with literially millions of vehicle's world wide receiving OTA updates on a regular basis there are few if any major hic-ups and certainly Tesla is not routinely bricking customer vehicles - the stats are just not there

you may not like Tesla, and they may push software that is less tested than you believe is necessary, but their OTA system is robust, and effective and saves them a very very large number of technician service hours and allows them to update the fleet to address problems…with virtually no impact to customer's usage of the vehicle.

 

[daveo4EV]

why is this a problem for you. simple must not be better. you bring the car, get a loaner and the tech checks your cars every component while updating your car.

because I've owned cars where that happens overnight with out me having to do anything which is an even better experience and saves everyone a lot of time and money and we can do other things with all that.

 

[Petzi]

because I've owned cars where that happens overnight with out me having to do anything which is an even better experience and saves everyone a lot of time and money and we can do other things with all that.

what is it that „happened overnight“ ? i would just like to know. i habe absolutely no idea what i would like to happen to my 2 macan overnight.

 

[daveo4EV]

what is it that „happened overnight“ ? i would just like to know. i habe absolutely no idea what i would like to happen to my 2 macan overnight.

you can turn on/off automatic updates - and if you like simply approve the update for installation "tonight @ 2am"

the point is it saves a service visit for something the manufacturer wants to happen to the vehicle - saves a loan, and saves the customer time - for me for example my porsche service is 1.5 hours drive there and 1.5 hours drive back and I have to drop off and pick up the car during business hours - it's 6 hours (3 hours round trip to drop the car off and 3 hours round trip to pick it back up)…

the vast vast vast majority of TSB's from Porsche are trivial software changes that should be done via OTA with out a dealer visit being necessary - and they are software that is going to be applied to the vechicle either via OTA (if they could) or on the car's next service visit…

personally I'd prefer to remove the need for service visits to get the updates for my Porsche.\

but I'm not sure what you point is - the same things would happen via OTA update that would happen when you drop the car off for service…it's software Porsche has decided needs to be installed on your vehicle and they have generated a release package to update that software on their fleet of vehicles…why does it upset you that it's being done via OTA vs. a service tech? it's the same patch/update.

 

[TomekGnomek]

To be fair there are some important updates pushed for Taycan like WSQ7 update to high-voltage converter, as I understand it improves charging curve on 400v chargers:

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/an-actual-ota-update-for-dc-charging-stability.33296/

It's very rare however and people are surprised it happened (for a car that's been on the market for years).

 

[daveo4EV]

and another trivial software update for Taycan

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2026/MC-11028564-0001.pdf

picture the total cost of all this world wide for Porsche since they can not do OTA updates for all these TSB's…

 

[daveo4EV]

To be fair there are some important updates pushed for Taycan like WSQ7 update to high-voltage converter, as I understand it improves charging curve on 400v chargers:

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/an-actual-ota-update-for-dc-charging-stability.33296/

woot!!! glad to see - they seem to finally be getting their arms around this whole OTA thing, but it's still very hit/miss as to how much of the car can be OTA's vs. requires service visit…

 

[Petzi]

newest ota update for byd seal. nothing i dont have, nothing i want.

 

[seraphmoss]

then let's be clear

_NONE_ of Porsche's current generation vehicle's being sold are structured, engineered, architected or friendly to OTA updates…

any software updates that are released must be done by a dealer service technician with Porsche service computer and the car in a cool dark room where it's quiet and plugged into an external power supply to keep it from bricking during the update process - it's a fragile process and not particularly quick/efficient and riddled with the potential to brick a vehicle or component due to operator/service-technician error or even faults in the update process that require it to be "re-try'd" should it fail on any given attempt.

while OTA updates may be in Porsche's future - it's not for any of the existing vehicle's currently being sold world wide.

the reasons are complex and addresseing them goes to the root of how Porsche has structured it's design, engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing processes for decades - undoing all that and moving forward is complex and they are already behind schedule.

but saying "the other guys can do it" does not make it so or make it easy for Porsche to do the same.

NOTE: there are some limited OTA updates for PCM 6 but I wouldn't consider them dealer service level changes - for example I did get youTube and some other "apps" OTA on my 2024 Macan Turbo EV…without visiting the dealership…and routinely get PCM navigation data updates on all 4 of my Porsche's (MY 2021 -> 2024 vehicles)

also if you want to have a meaninful conversation about OTA you have to be more specific. Posche does do OTA updates for the myPorsche app - but they can not do OTA updates to flash the firmware for their LED matrix, headlights, air suspension, steering, or brake controllers for example - but they can do OTA updates for the PCM Navigation map data…even in 2026 some of these mechanical parts that contain software/firmware may only be updated by physically removing the part and installing a new part with new firmware (although that is a shrinking number of supply chain components)…but my 2021 Cayenne's AC/DC onBoard charger can not have it firmware "flashed" by Porsche service - so to "upgrade" the firmware Porsche swapped the part to deal with a Check Engine light issue…the CEL could only be resolved by new firmware for the OBC, and hte only way to get an OBC with new firmware was to physically swap the part…welcome to the 2020's people!!

without discussing what level/layers of the vehicle software we are discussing it typical degrades into talking across purposes…

if you want a vehicle with full stack OTA updates Porsche is not your vendor - simple as that

expecting Porsche to "match" other vehicle vendors with rapid and frequent software updates is simply unrealistic and if you feel Porsche "lied" to you about this, you may be right - but they are no where near any sort of vehicle architecture that would support such a feature.

compared to Porsche BMW is much further ahead in this space for example, and the Chinese, and of course Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian…but Porsche is probably one of the back markers if not _THE_ back marker in this space.

Yes to all of this, and I think people want Porsche to do this.

That’s the opinion people are expressing about the experience, it’s not that people think it can be solved in their current cars. We want it to be solved in future cars.

 

[byebye]

Yes OTA was a selling point, and yes, Porsche doesn't deliver on what it promised, letting alone the several bugs, issues including dangerous ones (total loss of power is obviously a dangerous one) that multiple owners have reported.

I have no pleasure at all travelling to the dealership for (pointless ) firmware updates that should have been possible via OTA, moreover considering that they don't fix anything relevant for us with real issues.

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