Mercedes has been rolling out updates to it’s vehicles onboard systems at a rate that has proven unmanageable with USB drives. So, they have switched it out in favour of remote updates that are seamless to the vehicle owner.
From Txchnologist:
This new system upgrades on the fly, he said, the first such in-car application to do so. “It’s seamless to the customer,†Link said. “I have a friend who was excited about his system upgrade, which required him to plug in his stick and leave his car running for 45 minutes. Who wants to do that? In a process called ‘reflashing,’ the Mercedes system can turn on the car operating system (CU), download the new application, then cut itself off. It doesn’t require you to do anything at all.â€
Um, yeah. While in principle I can see the appeal of a set up like that I’m curious as to how security is being handled. With access from 3G or 4G networks can the vehicles be reached by other parties or are these updates pulled from the vehicle onboard systems? I can’t help but think of the security in vehicles when I look back to 2006 when David Beckham had his vehicle stolen from a busy street in Spain with nothing more than a laptop.
Come to think of it, I could use a new ride 🙂
Source: Article Link
(Image used under CC from desertspotter)
