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

[Petzi]

I haven't been here for a while, but I do want to comment on this issue. My Macan is my second EV, my first EV was a Tesla Model 3 Performance. In my experience, my Tesla had at least as many if not more software induced problems than my Macan. However, the Tesla issues, in my view, were a lot worse.

For example, Tesla phantom braking; this happened regularly when using either Autopilot or cruise control, rendering both unusable. For those who don't know, this involves the car slamming on the brakes for no reason whilst using either system on the motorway (highway) and is quite frankly dangerous. Tesla never cured this, despite numerous updates. Useless auto dipping headlights, non-functioning matrix headlights, and useless auto-wipers. They only got the matrix lights working in my last 6 months of ownership. All of these had serious implications insofar as actual driving and safety are concerned.

In contrast, my Macan' s equivalent systems are essentially faultless. I don't care if I can't use my phone as a key and that I get the odd error message, but I do care that my car does not try and cause an accident due to software issues in basic driving related systems. Porsche get the latter right and many of their competitors (Tesla, the update king) don't.

Also, despite being fast, no Tesla handles like a Porsche. OK, the Macan isn't a 911 (I know, I have one) but it gets as close as possible for an SUV.

In short, if you want a car for driving, buy a Porsche, if you want to play with what is essentially a PC (with all that entails - crashing for no reason and so forth) on wheels, get a Tesla or some other computer on wheels.

i am just reposting this perfect text

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[daveo4EV]

Cool. I asked Copilot for more on your second point. It gave a good explanation, so sharing. I thought it was useful insight:


How Porsche Updates Software at the Dealer

1. They connect your car to a secure diagnostic interface

The technician plugs into:

• ODIS (Offboard Diagnostic Information System)
• Using a VAS 6154A or similar factory interface
• Over Ethernet, CAN, FlexRay, or DoIP depending on the module


This gives Porsche a direct, stable, high‑bandwidth link to every ECU.

---

2. The dealer system authenticates with Porsche’s servers

The dealer tool:

• Logs into Porsche’s backend
• Checks your VIN
• Retrieves the exact software versions installed
• Compares them to the latest approved versions


This ensures:

• No wrong firmware
• No cross‑flashing
• No unsupported combinations


---

3. Each ECU is updated individually

This is the part most people don’t realize.

Your car has 80–150 ECUs, and each one:

• Has its own firmware
• Comes from a different supplier
• Has its own flashing procedure
• Has its own safety rules


The dealer tool flashes them one at a time, in a specific order.

Examples:

• Bosch ABS/ESC module
• ZF steering controller
• LG or CATL battery management system
• Valeo HVAC controller
• Harman infotainment unit
• Continental gateway module


Each supplier provides Porsche with:

• A signed firmware package
• A flashing script
• Safety checks
• Rollback instructions


Porsche does not rewrite these modules themselves.

---

4. The car enters a special “programming mode”

During flashing:

• High‑voltage systems may be isolated
• 12V is stabilized with a charger
• The gateway controls which ECUs stay awake
• The car disables most functions


This prevents bricking.

I'm so glad an AI agent confirmed what I knew to be true…Porsche is way way behind on software in general - and it's a deep hole to dig out of - their core business practices and supply chain methodolgy has to be revamped in order to address it…

so it's neither simple or easy - and in fact is complex and existential for them to overcome some of these hurdles…

the entire premise of the legacy automotive industry is anti-vertical integration - and being able to carry out OTA updates requires vertical integration approaches…

so yeah - they are behind and will probably be behind for a while - and it's unclear if they consider it a priority to resolve this issue - they would like to do it - but they may have bigger issues to address given their recent business performance.

 

[Petzi]

No it isn’t the software is a joke, especially compared to the iX I have. My iX from 2021 has more features in car but also in the App of my iPhone, BMW is like 10 times more useful and has way more details. Just to name 2, manual battery pre conditioning in the car and in the App, yes important if you live in colder regions. It even will pop up battery pre conditioning while using Apple CarPlay and Apple Maps …
The list is long and like with my Tesla regular OTA updates …
Yes the driving dynamics are bare none the best of any EV SUV, but the software is a drama … and will probably the number one reason this will be my first and last Porsche.
I’ve test driven the Zeekr 7X this weekend, and man even the Chinese wipe the floor with the Macan from a software perspective.
Yes the driving / handling they are king, but that is only when you find a place where you can experience that, because in daily driving they all drive the same.

i am so tired of this. you are repeating and repeating the same in every possible thread. every other car does it better for you which is ok, but i have to ask again, why dont you switch and why did you buy the porsche in the first place? ota was not promised, manual preheating was not promised (to the contrary). so you either bought something expansive you did not know anything about or what ?

 

[daveo4EV]

https://www.macanevowners.com/forum...ason-the-macan-software-is-so-glitchy….23305/

 

[daveo4EV]

Completely agree on all the points and firmware issues. Great to see all of the actual detail. Thanks for that. Unfortunately that puts them way behind (newer) so called 'zonal' architectures popular in new versions of EV's coming from BMW and Volvo/Geeli. Innovated by the likes of Tesla, Rivian and Lucid -- adopted by the Chinese, I'm sure.
I am hearing noises that the joint efforts with Rivian and VW supposedly undertaken to actually solve this problem are not doing well .. probably because of the massive clash of cultures and the overhaul of the supply chains that grew up around ECU's. Electretec recently did a review of the new assembly line for Cayenne's. It's clear that innovative directions in Porsche are focused on core automotive engineering and maybe on flexible manufacturing. That doesn't bode well for SDC and OTA updates anytime soon. I saw this play out with both Sony and Blackberry when up against Apple in another life. The outcome was not pleasant for purely engineering based companies. They always view software as an afterthought needing to be retrofitted into their beautiful and superior designs.

I have, so far, no major issues with my Macan 4S and I love to drive it. However, after 3 Porsche's, unless they fix the SDC and OTA issues, I'm afraid this might be my last one. I'm NOT going back to ICE.

https://eletric-vehicles.com/rivian...d-crisis-meeting-as-jv-faces-slowdown-report/

 

[Petzi]

https://eletric-vehicles.com/rivian...d-crisis-meeting-as-jv-faces-slowdown-report/

looks good, according to this. (except the clickbait header). „About half of the revenue within Software and Services was a result of the Software and Electrical Hardware joint venture we created with Volkswagen Group,” the CFO added then.“

 

[FirstEV]

My five cents is that since the Macan is the entry-level model and attracts a much broader customer base, it also comes with a wider range of expectations and feature demands that traditional Porsche buyers typically don’t prioritize.

Personally (and I’ve said this countless times in every software-related thread), I don’t buy a Porsche because of OTA updates or digital features. I buy it for the driving experience and everything the Porsche brand represents. When I’m taking a 2.5-ton SUV through a 90 km/h corner, the last thing on my mind is whether the latest OTA update has arrived or if the battery pre-heating function is perfectly optimized.

 

[seraphmoss]

They could just let us tech savvy people come over, pop the usb stick and let us have a coffee. Why do I need to leave my car for a whole day for something like that?

If the stick does the job, take it back and I’ll be on my way. If it bricks the car then they can resolve it while I uber home.

It doesn’t need to be hard. It’s just a different way of thinking.

 

[seraphmoss]

My five cents is that since the Macan is the entry-level model and attracts a much broader customer base, it also comes with a wider range of expectations and feature demands that traditional Porsche buyers typically don’t prioritize.

Personally (and I’ve said this countless times in every software-related thread), I don’t buy a Porsche because of OTA updates or digital features. I buy it for the driving experience and everything the Porsche brand represents. When I’m taking a 2.5-ton SUV through a 90 km/h corner, the last thing on my mind is whether the latest OTA update has arrived or if the battery pre-heating function is perfectly optimized.

I think you might be assuming too much. I drive a Porsche because I like driving.

I expect all the things I paid for to work. I don’t need all the OTAs but if I’m actually experiencing a bug then I want it patched.

I want the app to connect to my car so I can check the state of charge and to lock my car if I worry that I forgot. My Chevy Bolt can do that without drama. It is connected and working but the app has a bug on some ca

My previous Tesla was more advanced like an iPad on a skateboard, and I liked sentry mode and dog mode, but I didn’t need that iPad on a skateboard. I didn’t use FSD because I like to drive (FSD was a waste of my money).

I just want my basic features like I had in my previous 2017 Macan GTS and my base model Chevy.

I paid for my car, I don’t need advice on which part of it I paid for that should work or not work. I don’t have connected services if I can’t connect. OTA is now so standard, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to see it as a basic convenience.

My five cents is that since the Macan is the entry-level model and attracts a much broader customer base, it also comes with a wider range of expectations and feature demands that traditional Porsche buyers typically don’t prioritize.

Personally (and I’ve said this countless times in every software-related thread), I don’t buy a Porsche because of OTA updates or digital features. I buy it for the driving experience and everything the Porsche brand represents. When I’m taking a 2.5-ton SUV through a 90 km/h corner, the last thing on my mind is whether the latest OTA update has arrived or if the battery pre-heating function is perfectly optimized.

I don’t need the latest everything. I want my app to connect so I can check car location, charge state and lock/unlock.

I have to take time out of my day to

 

[daveo4EV]

They could just let us tech savvy people come over, pop the usb stick and let us have a coffee. Why do I need to leave my car for a whole day for something like that?

If the stick does the job, take it back and I’ll be on my way. If it bricks the car then they can resolve it while I uber home.

It doesn’t need to be hard. It’s just a different way of thinking.

you should try using a PWISS sometime - you are consistently assuming things that are not true - and it's really really painful to update these things - it's slow - it's buggy - it take a LOT of time - and the chance of bricking is very very high…

it has nothing to do with tech savvy or not - it has to do with how fragile canBus is and how limited the systems are on these parts from the supply chain…

bricking the car requires new hardware to be shipped from Germany, inports, tarriffs, and delay's - delays can lead to lemon laws and buy backs…not to even mention the impact to profitability in an industry well known for small margins…

you are grossly over simplifying the complexity being faced here and the cost of doing business as an automotive manufacture … not to mention safety regulations and conformance…

there are huge liabilities to getting this "wrong"…

your Casual attitude and limited total posting count and new account status screams "troll"…

why don't you get a job in the industry - see for yourself first hand what it takes, and then get back to us with all your wisdom!

in the mean time quit assuming it's simple, easy, or trivial unless you've done it at scale for a major existing legacy automotive manufacturer…

this isn't a $200 Nintendo they are patching…

 

[seraphmoss]

I bought a new Macan… and joined the forum… and my brand new car doesn’t work as expected. How many posts are you expecting from a new owner? What’s the glass ceiling for being able to ask a question or express my opinion?

Also, This is my third EV. I’m a consumer, I paid for my car, and I expect it to work.

You can’t insult me into accepting my car with three awesome big screens isn’t engineered well enough and I should keep quiet and accept that. It works, mostly.

Jargon might impress other people but I just want my car to work. I shared what I learned about why OTA doesn’t work earlier but I can also express an opinion that I want my app to work and that OTA is a common expectation for EV owners.

You can disagree but you don’t get to call me names.

 

[FirstEV]

I think you might be assuming too much. I drive a Porsche because I like driving.

I expect all the things I paid for to work. I don’t need all the OTAs but if I’m actually experiencing a bug then I want it patched.

I want the app to connect to my car so I can check the state of charge and to lock my car if I worry that I forgot. My Chevy Bolt can do that without drama. It is connected and working but the app has a bug on some ca

My previous Tesla was more advanced like an iPad on a skateboard, and I liked sentry mode and dog mode, but I didn’t need that iPad on a skateboard. I didn’t use FSD because I like to drive (FSD was a waste of my money).

I just want my basic features like I had in my previous 2017 Macan GTS and my base model Chevy.

I paid for my car, I don’t need advice on which part of it I paid for that should work or not work. I don’t have connected services if I can’t connect. OTA is now so standard, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to see it as a basic convenience.


I don’t need the latest everything. I want my app to connect so I can check car location, charge state and lock/unlock.

I have to take time out of my day to

This argument is completely nonsensical. Porsche has never marketed OTA updates as a core pillar of their brand, yet people cross-shop them with Teslas and bafflingly assume they should function the same way.

There is a massive difference between demanding that basic, essential functions work and obsessing over minor gimmicks. As long as the primary software is stable and functional, the system has done its job. The entitlement is exhausting, there are far worse things in life than having to take a €100k car to a dealership for a day. Quite frankly, it's a non-issue.

 

[seraphmoss]

This started with my app not connecting to my car.

Yes, I am lamenting no OTA because I have to interrupt my work day to “fix” something that should have worked immediately.

It is a convenience but at some point it devolved into an accusation that I’m gadget obsessed. I don’t want to be insulted or belittled, or have someone assume I need an update for no reason. I started with a reason, I shared what I learned about OTA and then I got insulted.

 

[TomekGnomek]

i am just reposting this perfect text

You could say he got a lemon Tesla and switched to good Macan.

There are similar stories in the other direction with lemon Macans that "try and cause an accident due to software issues in basic driving related systems".

I'm sure not all Teslas have these problems as I've driven many without these issues.

 

[seraphmoss]

You could say he got a lemon Tesla and switched to good Macan.

There are similar stories in the other direction with lemon Macans that "try and cause an accident due to software issues in basic driving related systems".

I'm sure not all Teslas have these problems as I've driven many without these issues.

I never had a single issue with my Tesla, I just prefer Porsche

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