When your vehicle outlives its cloud: What happens next?
When your vehicle outlives its cloud: What happens next?
当你的汽车“寿命”超过了云服务：接下来会发生什么？
Do you use your vehicle’s app to pre‑cool the cabin on a scorching day, confirm the doors are locked from bed, or have the car automatically call for help when the airbags go off? Savor those connected, cloud‑based conveniences while you can—the clock is already ticking on their obsolescence. In a few short years, you may be driving today’s vehicle without many of the features you currently enjoy.
你是否会使用汽车应用程序在炎热的天气里提前开启车内空调，在床上确认车门是否已锁好，或者在安全气囊弹出时让汽车自动呼叫救援？趁现在还能用，好好享受这些基于云端的互联便利吧——它们走向淘汰的倒计时已经开始。几年后，你驾驶的这辆车可能就会失去许多你目前正在享受的功能。
How we got hooked on the cloud
我们是如何“沉迷”于云服务的
“Connected services”—cloud-based and networked features that let a vehicle communicate with external systems to deliver apps, data, and remote functions to drivers and passengers—have been around since the 1990s, when GM introduced OnStar as an option. Those early systems were mostly voice‑centric, but they still depended on centralized back-end systems. Modern versions, which are fully data-driven and cloud-hosted, use much more sophisticated over-the-air data links to allow a considerably better feature set.
“互联服务”——即让车辆与外部系统通信，从而为驾驶员和乘客提供应用程序、数据和远程功能的云端联网功能——早在 20 世纪 90 年代通用汽车推出 OnStar（安吉星）选装服务时就已经出现。那些早期的系统大多以语音为中心，但它们仍然依赖于集中的后端系统。现代版本则完全由数据驱动并托管在云端，利用更复杂的无线数据链路，实现了功能集的大幅提升。
Today, virtually every volume brand offers some form of cloud-based telematics or a connected services stack. They can be deeply embedded, and most are fully integrated as the core of modern vehicle connectivity, supporting over-the-air (OTA) updates for the vehicle and app-based services for owners. As GM’s OnStar celebrates more than 30 years of service, a dozen others have joined, with each automaker branding its own unique services. HondaLink, Lexus Enform, FordPass, BMW ConnectedDrive, Volvo On Call, and Porsche Connect are just a few.
如今，几乎每个主流汽车品牌都提供某种形式的云端远程信息处理或互联服务堆栈。它们可以被深度嵌入，且大多数已完全集成，成为现代车辆互联的核心，支持车辆的无线（OTA）更新以及面向车主的应用程序服务。随着通用汽车的 OnStar 庆祝其服务超过 30 周年，其他十几家车企也纷纷加入，每家汽车制造商都打造了自己独特的品牌服务。HondaLink、Lexus Enform、FordPass、BMW ConnectedDrive、Volvo On Call 和 Porsche Connect 只是其中的几个例子。
Despite their catchy marketing names, the systems are all functionally similar—each offers a very comparable feature set. Basics include remote lock/start, vehicle status and maintenance updates, location and tracking, and emergency assistance. Additional premium features include in-vehicle Wi-Fi hotspots, cabin preconditioning, stolen-vehicle tracking services, and concierge owner services.
尽管营销名称各异，但这些系统在功能上大同小异——每一家提供的功能集都非常相似。基础功能包括远程锁车/启动、车辆状态和维护更新、位置追踪以及紧急救援。额外的增值功能包括车载 Wi-Fi 热点、车内环境预处理、被盗车辆追踪服务以及礼宾服务。
Plenty of consumers have embraced the remote conveniences and demonstrated to automakers that they are more than willing to pay for them. After a bundled “free trial” following new vehicle delivery, manufacturers charge monthly fees or subscriptions for connected services. GM said that 40 percent of OnStar customers choose to renew their subscriptions after the introductory period expired.
许多消费者已经接受了这些远程便利功能，并向汽车制造商证明了他们非常愿意为此付费。在交付新车后的捆绑“免费试用期”结束后，制造商会对互联服务收取月费或订阅费。通用汽车表示，40% 的 OnStar 用户在试用期结束后选择了续订。
Why automakers love a connected car
为什么汽车制造商钟爱互联汽车
Of course, the OEMs get something out of it, too. Cloud-based services allow manufacturers to perform OTA software updates, eliminating the need to pay dealers for labor-intensive warranty repairs such as software-related safety recalls, bug fixes, and powertrain calibration errors. Instead of repairing one vehicle at a time, automakers can push updates to thousands of vehicles simultaneously. Plus, they can offer “product improvements” to owners, including UX changes, ADAS refinements, and new software versions for infotainment apps long after the start of production.
当然，原始设备制造商（OEM）也能从中获益。云端服务允许制造商执行 OTA 软件更新，无需再为软件相关的安全召回、漏洞修复和动力总成校准错误等耗费人力的保修维修向经销商支付费用。汽车制造商无需逐一维修车辆，而是可以同时向数千辆汽车推送更新。此外，他们还可以在车辆投产很久之后，为车主提供“产品改进”，包括用户体验（UX）调整、高级驾驶辅助系统（ADAS）优化以及信息娱乐应用程序的新软件版本。
The day the signal dies
信号消失的那一天
There is no single event or element that triggers the end—it’s a combination of things. As vehicles age, OE on-board hardware becomes obsolete as cellular providers replace older technology and automakers stop investing in aging back-end stacks and features. Manufacturer contracts for connected services can also expire. Taken together, these factors mean that time ultimately kills cloud-based vehicle services.
没有单一的事件或因素会导致服务的终结——它是多种因素共同作用的结果。随着车辆老化，车载硬件会因移动运营商更换旧技术而变得过时，汽车制造商也会停止对老旧后端堆栈和功能的投入。此外，制造商的互联服务合同也可能到期。综合来看，这些因素意味着时间最终会终结基于云的车辆服务。
In 2022, many US cellular carriers, including AT&T, T‑Mobile/Sprint, and Verizon, shut down their 3G networks to create system capacity for upcoming 4G and 5G rollouts. When the 3G signal finally ceased, vehicles with the technology lost their connected cloud-based services. Lexus owners felt this shift acutely. The company’s Enform connectivity, which relied on the 3G network and was fitted to nearly all 2010–2017 models, went dark overnight because the hardware simply wasn’t forward‑compatible.
2022 年，包括 AT&T、T-Mobile/Sprint 和 Verizon 在内的多家美国移动运营商关闭了 3G 网络，以便为即将到来的 4G 和 5G 部署腾出系统容量。当 3G 信号最终消失时，搭载该技术的车辆失去了其云端互联服务。雷克萨斯车主对这一变化感受尤为深刻。该公司依赖 3G 网络的 Enform 互联系统（几乎安装在所有 2010-2017 年款车型上）一夜之间瘫痪，因为其硬件根本不具备向前兼容性。