Ford to Expand Mach-E's Early Access Program For OTA Updates

[Jimrpa]

It's been 4 months since sales began and there's been 1 update so far. I already feel like Ford abandoned the Mach-E.

Correction: 1 PARTLY-DEPLOYED update. Nobody knows how far it went.

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[Eraser]

I'd love to get a big update to fix a number of issues, but based on Ford's conservative approach with many aspects of the car I'm not too surprised by the slow release. I'll give them at least a year to get out a meaningful OTA before breaking out the pitchforks .

 

[snikt]

I'd love to get a big update to fix a number of issues, but based on Ford's conservative approach with many aspects of the car I'm not too surprised by the slow release. I'll give them at least a year to get out a meaningful OTA before breaking out the pitchforks .

I dunno, I think that's more acceptable down the line once things are very established. This is Ford's first EV though, this should be an all hands on deck trying to knock people's socks off with what the future will look like and attract people.

I'm not sure if Ford can make the transition from "traditional" car maker to more high tech which will be required in the EV future. Time will tell though, I hope it's a success

 

[mixduptransistor]

It's been 4 months since sales began and there's been 1 update so far. I already feel like Ford abandoned the Mach-E.

wow, you guys have some really unrealistic expectations

It's been 4 months since sales began and there's already been one update. I already feel like Ford is exceeding my expectations

Less than 10,000 cars are out there. They aren't going to be pumping out an update every week

You guys need to seriously chill out a little bit

 

[mixduptransistor]

I dunno, I think that's more acceptable down the line once things are very established. This is Ford's first EV though, this should be an all hands on deck trying to knock people's socks off with what the future will look like and attract people.

I'm not sure if Ford can make the transition from "traditional" car maker to more high tech which will be required in the EV future. Time will tell though, I hope it's a success

1. never, ever buy a product based on the promise of future software updates. Even a Tesla. How many people have paid Elon Musk $10,000 for "Full Self Driving" that Tesla has admitted will never actually be full self driving
2. having a major update every month would actually be A Bad Thing. The car shouldn't change that much. Yes, bugs need to be fixed, and there are refinements that need to be made, but software development and more importantly deployment on the scale that Ford will be hitting, with a system as complicated as a car, in environments as diverse and uncontrollable as cars are in, mean they actually need to take great care in just pushing code out. Bricking a car is a lot worse than bricking a phone, and has major safety implications.
3. Also, having the car change out from under you is a jarring experience, and it doesn't need to happen often. They need to be very deliberate with their modifications to the software so that they get it right the first time because if they make a change, and it sucks, and they make another change to fix it then people will get frustrated that the car is never the same when they get in

Yes, there are a lot of bugs, and a lot of module firmware updates that are only going out via dealers right now, but give them a little time to actually get the car launched. I'm sure there will be a major bug fix update that rolls up all the module updates eventually. In the meantime, Ford does have a pretty big network of dealers who can run these updates for you and resolve problems that arise

 

[Eraser]

I dunno, I think that's more acceptable down the line once things are very established. This is Ford's first EV though, this should be an all hands on deck trying to knock people's socks off with what the future will look like and attract people.

I'm not sure if Ford can make the transition from "traditional" car maker to more high tech which will be required in the EV future. Time will tell though, I hope it's a success

I can see both sides. If you want to be safe you do small, slow, staggered software releases. If they mess up a release they'll never hear the end of it, which could be pretty damning during this critical time. On the other hand keeping your current customers happy goes a long way boosting good will, and promoting the product. With some of these more basic issues around PaaK, and Profile settings I'm surprised these weren't addressed prior to release. I'm hoping after this first year they will start to have a bi-monthly or quarterly cadence of OTA releases with bug fixes and new features.

 

[timbop]

1. never, ever buy a product based on the promise of future software updates. Even a Tesla. How many people have paid Elon Musk $10,000 for "Full Self Driving" that Tesla has admitted will never actually be full self driving
2. having a major update every month would actually be A Bad Thing. The car shouldn't change that much. Yes, bugs need to be fixed, and there are refinements that need to be made, but software development and more importantly deployment on the scale that Ford will be hitting, with a system as complicated as a car, in environments as diverse and uncontrollable as cars are in, mean they actually need to take great care in just pushing code out. Bricking a car is a lot worse than bricking a phone, and has major safety implications.
3. Also, having the car change out from under you is a jarring experience, and it doesn't need to happen often. They need to be very deliberate with their modifications to the software so that they get it right the first time because if they make a change, and it sucks, and they make another change to fix it then people will get frustrated that the car is never the same when they get in

Yes, there are a lot of bugs, and a lot of module firmware updates that are only going out via dealers right now, but give them a little time to actually get the car launched. I'm sure there will be a major bug fix update that rolls up all the module updates eventually. In the meantime, Ford does have a pretty big network of dealers who can run these updates for you and resolve problems that arise

Would you please be irrational? The whole point of agile is so that every sprint has a deliverable tested by guinea pigs customers. Heck, Ford's had 3 months, everything should be perfect after that amount of time- like the model 3 launch was. Clearly Ford will be out of business by next Friday.

 

[SteelMach]

wow, you guys have some really unrealistic expectations

It's been 4 months since sales began and there's already been one update. I already feel like Ford is exceeding my expectations

Less than 10,000 cars are out there. They aren't going to be pumping out an update every week

You guys need to seriously chill out a little bit

I hear OTA I think monthly at least. My phone has had 4 OS updates since Mach-E went on sale, I genuinely don't get why my Mach-E hasn't been updated as frequently if not more, since it's a substantially more expensive consumer electronics purchase than a phone.

 

[The Electric Duo]

I hear OTA I think monthly at least. My phone has had 4 OS updates since Mach-E went on sale, I genuinely don't get why my Mach-E hasn't been updated as frequently if not more, since it's a substantially more expensive consumer electronics purchase than a phone.

In just the past few months, there was an Android Auto update that caused it to crash when connected. There was an Android Webview update that caused lots of apps to crash - from Gmail to Twitter, etc. Phone updates can be pushed out relatively easily and the consequences of a bad update can be irritating. A bad update on your car can make it unusable or even dangerous.

 

[SteelMach]

In just the past few months, there was an Android Auto update that caused it to crash when connected. There was an Android Webview update that caused lots of apps to crash - from Gmail to Twitter, etc. Phone updates can be pushed out relatively easily and the consequences of a bad update can be irritating. A bad update on your car can make it unusable or even dangerous.

A price I'm willing to pay. I want frequent updates, not feeling abandoned.

 

[generaltso]

• Front trunk release soft button added to center stack touchscreen

I wonder if this would actually save any time or be any easier vs just pulling the lever twice...

If you're outside the car, the quickest way to pop the frunk will likely be to hold in the 7/8 button on the pillar.

 

[garfieldorlando]

Guess going to be just one update per quarter, this's really sad.

 

[mixduptransistor]

since it's a substantially more expensive consumer electronics purchase than a phone.

This is precisely why you will get *fewer* updates than you do on your phone. They are going to be much more deliberate with what they push out to a fleet of $55,000 cars vs. what they might do to $700 phones

 

[mixduptransistor]

Guess going to be just one update per quarter, this's really sad.

That's about the average cadence of Tesla releases, at least in terms of actual updates with new features. Sometimes they do have bug fix releases that roll out after. No reason to think Ford would be different. Two data points at the very beginning are not enough to build a trend line out of

 

[Jimrpa]

wow, you guys have some really unrealistic expectations

It's been 4 months since sales began and there's already been one update. I already feel like Ford is exceeding my expectations

Less than 10,000 cars are out there. They aren't going to be pumping out an update every week

You guys need to seriously chill out a little bit

Correction: partly completed one update. And, as you point out, that’s across less than 10,000 Mustang Mach E’s. And I’d like to be fair and add in an additional unknown number of F-150s sharing the same deployment infrastructure and at least some team members. Ford is still learning to scale.

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