Why cars will never be smartphones on wheels

Axios

07-05-2025

The digital transformation of the auto industry has hit a speed bump: Slower-than-expected electric vehicle adoption has delayed the rollout of intelligent, software-defined vehicles.
The big picture: Automakers are forecasting billions of dollars in recurring revenue from software and services that improve over time through constant updates.
That requires a next-generation electrical architecture — think of it as the car's brain — to handle everything from ride dynamics and safety functions to the in-car experience that consumers want.
Automakers dream of being more like Apple, with an elegant operating system like iOS that enables the same digital experience across all their vehicles.
Tesla and other EV startups already have such platforms, and they regularly send software updates to add features or improve performance.
But they had an advantage: Their modern cars were designed from scratch.
Legacy automakers are saddled with complex software networks cobbled together from more than 100 electronic control units that manage specific functions like braking or infotainment.
Even minor software updates are a hassle with such a fragmented system.
The shift to electric vehicles seemed like the ideal time for many automakers to toss out those antiquated architectures in favor of a Tesla-like approach.
Many companies who yoked software modernization to their EV development plans, however, are now thinking better of it.
Driving the news: Ford recently pulled the plug on an ambitious next-generation software project, deciding instead to pour those efforts into improving its existing architecture.
The fully networked vehicle project (FNV4) was to have been the foundational software platform for a future lineup of smart, connected vehicles.
In a blog post explaining the pivot, Doug Field, Ford's chief EV, digital and design officer, noted: "The world has changed since automakers, including Ford, laid out plans to rapidly redesign their vehicles for an electric future."
EV adoption has been slower than expected, he noted, and Ford's digital transformation shouldn't leave behind customers who prefer gasoline or hybrid vehicles, he wrote.
Instead, Ford will take a more incremental approach to software, building upon the digital experience launched recently in the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Nautilus and Navigator and deploying it across its full portfolio of vehicles.
The move will save money, Ford CEO Jim Farley told analysts this week, and even make future products more affordable.
Between the lines: The software conundrum demonstrates why a car is not a smartphone and Detroit will never be like Apple.
Phones are replaced every two or three years; cars stay on the road for 10 to 15 years or more.
That means automakers are often stuck spending money to keep old technologies alive, even as they're investing billions to develop more sophisticated, modern vehicles.
"Having a new electrical architecture on some vehicles and a legacy architecture on other vehicles and maintaining them all at the same time is not a good strategy for this new world," Field wrote.