My Chevy Bolt EV is still going strong. Thankfully, I suppose, mine was too old to get the range-crippling patches, but I wasn't immune. I did have to go get an obtuse software update for whatever is happening inside of Hybrid Powertrain Control Module 2's Advanced Diagnostics System. GM, despite building OTA software update functionality into the Bolt, has only used it once -- to remotely disable video playback capabilities in the infotainment system. So, I drove to the dealership, waited an hour drinking surprisingly good coffee, then left with my underhood computers reflashed.
Now, I know the OTA update capability can only handle the infotainment system, and I guess it's a good thing that the car's ECMs are not connected to the Internet, either directly or through the GMLAN CAN bus. Still, I look at Tesla owners who can get their ECMs reprogrammed remotely while they sleep, and I'm a little bit jealous at times.
So, GM, who's pretty good at making cars (they break more, but tend to be cheaper to fix, thankfully), has removed Android Auto and Apple CarPlay entirely, and forced everyone to use the institutionalized spyware that is their custom distribution of Android Automotive. Yet, from what I read, they still haven't figured out how to deliver OTA updates to critical systems. Most computer BIOS makers figured out digital signatures on firmware images a long time ago. Verify the image, flash, verify the image again. GM has contributed to this article substantially because they don't want to piss off their dealer network, who's already pissed that they'd dare make a car that doesn't have to show up every 5,000 kilometers for four or more liters of the world's most overpriced oil and a $50 filter that's $5 on RockAuto.
While my dealership's coffee is quite good on a cold winter's day, I'd rather sit at home in my underwear with my own coffee looking out the window at a car that completed a safe, secure software update overnight. Perhaps if GM could figure that out and just push it, they could avoid the negative press of a little recall like the ADS software.