With the wave of intelligence coming, whether it is a new energy model or a fuel model, the intelligence of the whole vehicle has been greatly improved, especially the new energy models of new car-making enterprises, all kinds of intelligent software and hardware are more than one "pile", and many in order to be listed more quickly, seize the market, more and more models are listed like "semi-finished products", a large number of functions still stay on the car purchase brochure, and it is necessary to activate these "futures" functions several times later.
Today's new models can not only use OTAs to update features, but also use OTAs to recall, and even use OTAs to do something that infringes on the interests of car owners. Manufacturers want to OTA, how OTA, car owners are in an absolutely weak position, and this field is seriously lacking in supervision.
However, on April 15, the Equipment Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Notice on Carrying Out online upgrade filing of automotive software to further standardize the filing of online upgrades (OTA upgrades) of automotive software. The notice requires that car companies should complete the filing of enterprise management capabilities, model and function filing and specific upgrade activities in turn as required before they can implement online upgrade activities for automotive software, that is, OTA upgrades. Within 5 working days after the completion of the upgrade, a report on the implementation of the specific upgrade activity must be submitted.
The good days of car companies casually carrying out OTAs have passed, gone forever, and the chaos here should indeed be managed.
The new regulations landed, a few joys and a few sorrows
In fact, for those manufacturers who really use OTA functions to bring more functions, more services, and better experiences to users, the impact is not large. Although many futures functions require follow-up OTA, when the owner places an order, he should have considered these problems clearly, and the behavior of the manufacturer is actually a kind of approval, and he will pay to pick up the car. Manufacturers also have plans for the follow-up OTA, and both parties belong to a state of mutual benefit and mutual recognition.
The new regulations clearly mention that for relevant upgrade activities that do not involve changes in technical performance such as product safety, environmental protection, energy saving, and anti-theft, enterprises can directly carry out upgrades after filing; related upgrade activities involving changes in technical performance such as product safety, environmental protection, energy conservation, and anti-theft should submit verification materials to ensure that the products comply with national laws and regulations, technical standards and technical specifications and other relevant requirements; relevant upgrade activities involving L3 level and above automatic driving functions should be approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
This time, the new regulations really affect those companies that cover up problem defects and sneak "recall and repair" in the name of OTA upgrades. Because for the recall and upgrade, on June 5, 2021, the State issued the Notice of the General Office of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Further Strengthening the Supervision of The Technical Recall of Vehicle Remote Upgrade (OTA) (Municipal Supervision and Quality [2020] No. 123), which clearly mentioned that when the producer files the technical service activities or recalls using the OTA method, it is necessary to submit the "Vehicle Remote Upgrade (OTA) Safety Technology Assessment Information Form", and the requirements for filling in the information form are referred to in the "Vehicle Remote Upgrade (OTA)" Guidelines for completing the Safety Technical Assessment Information Form. The filing of technical service activities and the filing of recalls are submitted through the National Comprehensive Management Information Platform for The Recall of Defective Automobile Products.
OTA recall is to be filed, for example, a few days ago Tesla's "speed of light" OTA recall upgrade, is filed with the relevant departments, and it should be noted that the recall of the enterprise is to be in accordance with the "Defective Automobile Product Recall Management Regulations" and "Defective Automobile Product Recall Management Measures" requirements, to the State Administration for Market Regulations to file the recall plan, the word "defect" is quite eye-catching. In 2021, 8.73 million vehicles were recalled, and 2.92 million defective vehicles were recalled by OTA, accounting for about one-third of the total recalls in the whole year.
The name of the OTA is actually impossible
The recall due to defects may damage the brand image, and may seriously affect the performance of enterprises in the capital market, especially our local new forces to build cars and traditional car companies that are accumulating new energy user reputation. The new forces are extremely reluctant to mention the word recall, taking the "broken shaft incident" of the ideal car that has a huge controversy in 2020 as an example, according to the official data released by the ideal, as of October 31, 2020, the ideal ONE has accumulated 97 pre-suspension collision accidents, of which 10 have appeared in the situation where the front suspension hem arm ball head has fallen out of the ball pin.
In response to the broken shaft incident that occurred in October of that year, on November 1, Ideal released a solution on "technology upgrade", saying that it would replace the front suspension swing arm for more than 10,000 ideal car owners. However, the term "hardware upgrade" has caused a lot of controversy at this time. From retrieving the vehicle to replacing the parts and returning it to the customer, the ideal set of operations is the same as a traditional car recall, why is it an upgrade rather than a recall. Subsequently, Ideal issued an apology letter on November 6 and re-resolved the hardware issue in the form of a recall.
In the face of vehicle software or hardware defects, some car companies' upgrade plans may be "inspired" or inertial by OTA software upgrades on the one hand, and on the other hand, they may use upgrades to cover up vehicle problems to divert consumers' attention and confuse the "upgrade" and "recall" of the car, but whether it is literally or in the practical sense, there are worlds of difference and need to be regulated. As Xiao Lingyun, director of the Automotive Department of the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said, although the state encourages enterprises to implement recalls in the form of OTAs, they cannot use OTAs to evade recalls or replace recalls.
Through the so-called OTA upgrade, especially many car companies directly upgrade without user consent, using OTA upgrades to cover up vehicle problems, they can bypass supervision and avoid recalls. Previously, there were media exposures that some car companies in the vehicle spontaneous combustion problem, through the OTA upgrade way to "lock the power", in the past two years, BAIC New Energy, SAIC Roewe, GAC Toyota, WM and other brands have been exposed, through the OTA upgrade technology to the battery output power "lock", artificially reduce the upper limit of charging, thereby slowing down the battery attenuation, and prevent the battery from thermal runaway and other failures. However, the "power lock" operation will also lead to a decrease in charging speed and a shrinking mileage, so that the vehicle products cannot reach the technical level of the record.
Locking electricity through OTA, this is an extremely irresponsible approach, because its own defects may not be eradicated, if modified, even the overall vehicle architecture will be affected, which cost problem manufacturers naturally do not want to bear, to let consumers bear, it is estimated that it will not be promised, so OTA to lock the power, is the manufacturer to find the optimal solution, their own cost is the lowest, and can avoid recall, although consumers suffered losses, but there is no direct evidence, The manufacturer can fully say that the battery is aging or improper use, leaving all their responsibilities.
This time, the new regulations are to crack down on these car companies that borrow OTAs to whitewash defects, and the new regulations point out that within 5 working days after the completion of the upgrade activity, submit a report on the implementation of the specific upgrade activity. Where the interval between the start and end of the upgrade activity exceeds 6 months, a phased report on the implementation status shall also be submitted every 6 months. Those car companies that lock the power of OTAs or conceal problems with the help of OTAs will become "nowhere to hide" in these phased reports, and the basic performance of vehicles will change dramatically, which will definitely be reflected.
After the new regulations, the owner is not passive?
At the same time, car owners are no longer blindly passively accepting, according to the new regulations, enterprises are responsible for the safety of OTA upgrade activities and product production consistency. Enterprises should fulfill the obligation to inform, inform vehicle users of the purpose, content, required duration, impact of the upgrade, precautions and other information before the upgrade is implemented, and inform the vehicle users of the upgrade results after the upgrade is implemented. In the past, despite the filing system, in the end, car companies wanted to rise what they wanted, what they wanted to upgrade; now, not only for the record, but also for the announcement, must let the user know, and retain the right to choose.
The real tension this time is those companies that have already used the illegal method to carry out OTAs, because the new regulations mention that products that have been "announced" before the issuance of this notice should complete the supplementary filing within 60 working days after the filing of the enterprise management capability. And the changes they have made to the vehicle have seriously affected the performance of the vehicle, which is inconsistent with the filing of the year, and there is a phased report every six months, so now these illegal companies really have to start panicking, and the owners who are locked, treated differently, and blinded by the OTA, this time are waiting for the "savior".
This time the new regulations, can be seen as another "patch" on the previous regulations, for the car companies' OTA technology has played a further constraint role, OTA upgrade is no longer arbitrary, after all, cars and mobile phones, computers and other electronic products are not the same, it is also related to life safety. Car companies secretly "upgrade" the user's car must be supervised by the relevant departments, which is a responsible attitude towards consumers and users. The new OTA recall application specifications have redefined to a certain extent the owner's cognition of the future protection of smart car recall rights, and also made the use of OTA by car companies more standardized, so that technology can return to its original heart and better serve consumers. And those consumers who have suffered from "wrong goods" must also hold on, and the next one to save is estimated to be you.