It's hardly rocket science -
Agreed it's not - but OTA is mainly constrained by the hardware in the sub unit. Fully agree the upgrade can be downloaded over a number of days but that does not reduce the data quantity (it increases as you have to add the overhead of packet monitoring and control). Data compression can reduce the on-air data transfer requirements but then there have to be mechanisms for 'un-zipping' the data in the car adding to the processing load and memory requirements.
The end unit needs to have at least double the memory needed for it's normal operation and current map data, and it needs to have spare processing to handle the download application at the same time as normal operation - in general the only time OTA would be possible is when there is a driver in the car driving. There then needs a separate mechanism for moving the newly downloaded dataset into operational memory and additional memory, and processing, to be able to move back should the upgrade fail 'to take'.
As this is a considerable additional load on the base Nav unit specification
it is my guess that none of the current Kia head units have that much memory and processing capability available to handle OTA. If they had they would be a lot snappier in normal operation.
Microsoft can upgrade your Windows PC because the PC has tons of memory and data storage and processing power available in your PC - not so with your in car Nav unit. Similarly with upgrades to your phone SW - but I bet the Nav unit in most Kia' does not approach the cost (and thus capability) of the average smartphone.
Another consideration is load on servers. I'd hazard a guess that Kia's server farm probably could not handle a few hundred thousand low speed intermittent data connections when new SW/Map data became available. More customer dissatisfaction would occur.
OTA will no doubt be possible as new Nav unit hardware is introduced - or by default if car manufacturers admit defeat and drop Nav unit support in favour of Android Auto or Apple Car Play as some in this forum have suggested.
I do agree that Kia could make datasets available for
off line download to SD card for subsequent updating of the Nav unit (maps being the obvious dataset) but then what happens if things go wrong? It's hardly realistic to expect Kia to fix the mess caused by you, in what is the equivalent of updating your PC BIOS, for free - remember you ticked through all the warnings just before you pressed 'Go'!
As a side note, in the current Nav unit I think the map data is held on the SD card so to introduce OTA there would have to be a SD card in place that could handle two maps (old and newly downloaded) what I don't know is how closely the dataset for the Map is incorporated with the other SW in the unit.
It is irritating to be charged £40 when it appears that in other markets Kia allows offline downloads for Nav unit updating. However the £40 is at the low end of the scale and many other car manufacturers charge more so probably reasonable value as it comes with a guarantee that it will work!
As for current Nav unit there is a snowball in hells chance of OTA ever being offered!
As in fact did IBM for OS/2 updates once upon a when. These days its almost trivial to do given burst speeds on most mobile services.
