Wednesday, 16 March 2016

SOTA the take off

ABI Research anticipates accelerated adoption of automotivesoftware over-the-air (SOTA) updates with nearly 180 million new SOTA-enabledcars shipping between 2016 and 2022.

‘Three factors changed the course of the automotive industryand paved the way for the future of OTA: recall cost, Tesla’s success as thefoundation of autonomous driving, and security risks based on softwarecomplexities,’ explained Susan Beardslee, senior analyst at ABI Research. ‘Itis a welcome transformation, as OTA is the only way to accomplish secure managementof all of a connected car’s software in a seamless, comprehensive, and fullyintegrated manner.’

The positive changes that OTA can bestow on the car recallprocess is alone a vital benefit. In the past two years, the recall rateincreased to approximately 46% with four major car OEMs setting aside acombined $20 billion in 2015 in warranty reserves. Though not all recalls canbe fixed via an OTA update, ABI Research market analysis suggests that close toone-third of last year’s recalls could have been addressed over the air, savingcar OEMs at least $6 billion.