Jaecoo 7 will need the mother of all software updates to make the grade
Autocar is fast filling up with mentions of ‘software-defined vehicles’ – cars whose performance and functionality is primarily defined electronically rather than physically. The computing power of the car becomes its ruling characteristic and the software for it can be improved and updated time and again, so that it’s never finished, rather in a constant state of flux.
The car industry is predictably excited about this idea. I suspect that any customers who have ever had an over-the-air software update go a bit wrong won’t be quite so keen. As for me, I’m a bit puzzled how manufacturers can seriously be contemplating giving software an even greater role in the cars they will make in years to come while at least some of them are doing such an awful job with the stuff they’re making in 2025.
I’m not sure that the new Jaecoo 7, which you can read about in detail from p30, counts as an SDV, but it has certainly inspired something of a software-defined verdict. Honestly, this car is like some cautionary parable of terrible, dystopian motoring yet to come.