Among our concerns about smart cars starting to be offered is how much support will be provided. As we all know on smartphones, operating system version update support is only up to five years and after that there are no more consistent security patches. This raises the question of whether smart cars five years in the future will be exposed to serious security vulnerabilities?
For those who want to buy a Volkswagen car, the company confirms that car software support will be provided for up to 15 years. This was confirmed by Dirk Hilgenberg, CEO of CARIAD which is a subsidiary that manages software for the Volkswagen Group in an interview with ArsTechnica. According to him every car with Android Automotive that is used now will be supported throughout its life which is equivalent to 15 years.
This makes Volkwagen the longest supported Android "smart device" to date. The current record is held by the FairPhone 2 which was supported for seven years before it was only recently discontinued. So far only Volkswagen has confirmed vehicle software support over the years with other companies never giving a clear answer.
For those who say 15 years is a short period, in some European countries old cars have to be scrapped because they no longer comply with emissions standards. Meanwhile in the United States, the law stipulates that spare parts only need to be produced up to 7 years after the vehicle is no longer produced. In short, in most developed countries there is no such thing as a vehicle that will be supported forever.