Last night my car updated to software version 2020.40.4. Today while driving on the highway, I attempted to bring up the trip graph and the screen decided to reboot. Luckily enough I was testing my Sony ZV-1 and caught it on video.
Driving along the highway on Navigate on Autopilot, once I tapped a function on the screen, everything freezes until the screen reboots. Music keeps playing for a few seconds until the fade to black. Once a reboot is triggered, it takes a little under 2 minutes for everything to come back on.
While the reboot is occurring, everything in the car still functions. Autopilot is still active and able to continue it’s functions. The screen is really just the visual and audio feedback from the car to the driver. Obviously not ideal to not be able to see your speed but other aspects are also don’t function such as turn signal audio feedback. Makes sense since the audio system is handled by the MCU, aka the screen.
Back when I first received my car, certain software versions were heavily prone to screen reboots. Sometimes 3-4 reboots in a single day. Thankfully, the software has improved tremendously and these occurrences are more rare than common.
Now if they can figure out the Autopilot computer doing a quick reboot behind the scenes while displaying a “Driving visualization will be available on next drive” error. Within a few seconds, visualizations do come back. A huge difference compared to a year ago when the AP computer crashing meant greatly reduced functionality until next drive or a full power down.
