cmac1212

I expected there to at least be some minor bug fixes/stability changes from an OTA update in the past month that I've had my RDX. I check for updates quite often but get nothing. Anyone aware of what kind of release cadence I could expect? How often do other Acura/Honda vehicles get these updates?

Meto

Well... I have had mine for two months now and nada, nothing, nil, zero....

Hou-RL

I suspect maybe twice a year as it give them time to test and release updates without additional issues. That is just my guess. The car is too new for a release unless there are many users affected. It has only been out for 71 days.

Catman70

gtssenior

I may time my first update to coincide with my first maintenance trip to the dealer if one is out by then. If it goes south it is already where it needs to be.

Wander

You, Sir, are a curmudgeon. Or maybe a prophet.

There is the theoretical possibility of deferring installation of an update, OTA or otherwise, until other beta-testers have had time to discover its effects. But what kind of fun is that?

gtssenior

Ahh - you caught my sarcasm. I would hope that the car could still be driven to the dealer if an update aborted for one reason or another. I would think that these updates are really for the navigation subsystem with updating maps as a different process. Any system update patches done to correct a logic problem in the actual vehicle systems I would think be done at the Acura service site targeted to a specific issue and such procedures would never appear in a user manual.

Accord07

The short answer is "nobody knows" and Honda will release updates when they feel like it. I have been paying close attention to the '19 Acura RDX but haven't purchased one yet. Have had an '18 Honda Odyssey for 18 months now. The '18 Odyssey is the first Honda/Acura vehicle that came with support for OTA updates, it was followed by the '18 Accord, and now '19 RDX. During the 18 months of ownership, I received two updates, in February and April. Some owners received the update I got in February as early as November, it is a complete mystery how Honda determines when each vehicle receives update. Compared to mobile phone companies the number of devices Honda has to deal with is miniscule. The April update on the other hand was received by just about everyone within a couple of weeks. Keep in mind this is an automaker, not a software company or mobile phone manufacturer, set the expectation low so it will be met or exceeded. When I bought my van I made sure I could live with any deficiencies in its electronics, even if I would never receive an update for the lifetime of the vehicle. The software running on the head unit has no direct impact on driving the vehicle. Both times I saw the alert about an available update while at a stop light, I initiated the download and continued driving. The downloads completed in the background (over the AT&T network) while the vehicle was in motion. For all I know I could probably drive the van while a software upgrade was in progress. For those who wonder if it only updates the navigation software (on the Odyssey map updates are handled separately through Garmin), it is more than that. It includes updates to both Android as well as what Honda has added on top of it. While the Android version has stayed at Lollipop (5.1.1) after both updates, each time the kernel build date changed.

If you are not experiencing any problems, you might as well just leave it as-is and enjoy the vehicle. Even when there is a specific problem addressed by an update, new problems may prop up afterward. A few weeks after taking delivery of my van, I reported a problem regarding the data-capable USB port (the one that Android Auto and CarPlay needs) to Honda - the head unit was not presenting the correct port type so Android phones would either charge very slowly or draining its battery slowly because for a standard USB port 500mA is the maximum any compliant device is supposed to ask for - it took 9 months for them to resolve it (which ironically was not among the bug fixes listed in the new release), and it introduced a new problem: now the LTE uplink would fail to come up from time to time when the head unit powers on, which is likely just a timing issue because I can always fix it by stopping the engine, opening the door, and starting the engine again. Sure it is annoying, but less of a problem than the charging issue that plagued every vehicle 100% of the time.

oblio98

Two times since I've had the car (July 2nd) I've had an exclamation point on my System Updates icon on the main screen. Both times when I selected 'System Updates' it showed that it was looking for updates and came back saying there were none.

Twice that's happened. As far as I know, there was no update applied either time.

Wander

Navigation map updates are downloaded from the data provider, HERE, and are supposed to be released quarterly. HERE also provides the map data for Garmin's devices and Garmin's software solutions for OEM automotive navigation systems, and for Hondas the data is downloaded from servers that appear to be associated with HERE, but the download and installation methods are different. ( A 2019 RDX map update was available for a brief period of time a few weeks ago, but it was withdrawn ).

According to Acura, the navigation system in 2019 RDX was "developed in cooperation with HERE". It certainly does not have the familiar Garmin interface, for better or worse, unlike some recent Hondas.

As for navigation software, other head unit software, and firmware for who-knows-what other computerized module in the car, those updates will be released if and when Acura feels like it, just like Accord07 said. These vehicles are rolling mainframe computers, with literally dozens of separate "embedded" computerized modules that are dedicated to specific tasks and subsystems. Each of these modules must communicate and peacefully coexist with the rest of the digital ecosystem in the vehicle. Paradoxically, the user interface for all of this is now dependent on software intended for the very opposite of a mainframe computer: a smartphone.

So for the embedded modules we have the deliberately minimalist "patch" paradigm, as is common for mainframes. Basically, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, cuz you don't want to inadvertently break something else. But this is colliding with the periodic update paradigm of the Android OS that controls the infotainment head unit. And the very nature of this thread illustrates the consumer expectations that come along with modern consumer computing devices and their software. So it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

BrianC778

Wander is exactly right about the complexity of the systems. But it is even more complex from a business standpoint.

I work on software in the infotainment division of one of the top suppliers to OEMs. Almost no companies develop their own infotainment & telematics systems, nor just about anything else in the car. The OEMs design the requirements and interface specifications, and hire suppliers like my company to do all of the actual development. And the various modules are often developed by several different suppliers. The instrument cluster, even though it integrates with the infotainment system, might well be developed by a different supplier. When we deliver our components, those components must be tested in the full system. Meanwhile those other systems are also being improved. Integrating all of this is difficult and takes quite some time. So companies like mine will work on the hundreds of problem reports and enhancement requests according to the OEM's priorities and schedule releases. Add in all the test cycles and rework when things inevitably do not go right the first time or two, and this is why you might see only a couple of system updates per year on recent model year cars.

This is one area where Tesla has an advantage: They seem to do a majority of these kinds of systems in house, and can therefore turn around much quicker updates.
The rest of us are heading in the direction of more frequent updates, but shifts in business like this take a long time in the auto industry.

Madd Dog

Wander

I'm also retired ( I guess... next week, who knows ), but in one of my careers I was a scientist in a computationally intensive area of study. I wrote lots of silly little programs to solve my own problems, but I seldom shared them. And that's a good thing.

But I remember a little course I took in microcomputer systems and machine-level programming, and especially the anecdote for the consequences of inadequate debugging of low-level software: "Stack dump on the heads-up display".

At the time, this referred to military fighter jets, because those were the only things that had heads-up displays. ( Now my car has one, Really? ) "Stack dump" refers to the sudden stream of "debugging" hexadecimal characters that could appear on the display instead of, say, the cross hairs for the missile aiming system, and it was generally accepted that this would be unacceptable to the end user.

So I can't wait to see what happens on my HUD when Acura gets around to releasing OTA software updates for my car...