Car 'offline'

[Db10mw]

My car is “offline” ie the sat nav shows no map and I can’t route plan.  Short of a reset anyone got any ideas?  I have a cloud with a line through it at the top of the nav screen

[DarrylV8]

Ours was off line morning of December 16th but reset itself about 9am, as we were going out of the country we weren’t able to let Lotus know until a few days ago.

It would appear to be pretty random, hopefully Lotus can get to the bottom of the issue fairly quickly.

[C8RKH]

Can you not connect to Carplay or Android Auto and use the maps function from that @Db10mw?  It might not be "ideal" but surely it will provide the info you need to get you to where you want to be safely, and music etc.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

[Db10mw]

7 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

Can you not connect to Carplay or Android Auto and use the maps function from that @Db10mw?  It might not be "ideal" but surely it will provide the info you need to get you to where you want to be safely, and music etc.

I’m in the uk so we dont have CarPlay or android auto yet

obviously I ended up using Apple Maps on my phone but it’s pretty disappointing for a gbp120k car

1 hour ago, DarrylV8 said:

Ours was off line morning of December 16th but reset itself about 9am, as we were going out of the country we weren’t able to let Lotus know until a few days ago.

It would appear to be pretty random, hopefully Lotus can get to the bottom of the issue fairly quickly.

Interesting. Can you locate your car through the app?  I’ve never been able to do that although everything else works eg charging status etc. not sure if it’s connected to the issue

[C8RKH]

1 hour ago, Db10mw said:

I’m in the uk so we don't have CarPlay or android auto yet

Apologies, I didn't know that. Like you mentioned, I would have expected a £120k car to have both of those things as standard!  I'm pretty shocked that Lotus has shipped the car without them. In fact, I'm bloody astounded. But not surprised. I find it a bit pathetic actually....

[Barrykearley]

What’s more surprising is something made in china doesn’t have that basic functionality.

[Bibs]

I seem to remember it's something to do with licencing the software. I'm sure it's not a quick process which is why it's not currrently available. 

[C8RKH]

I'm sure the licensing side is very quick @Bibs. I've sold hundreds of millions of "software" over the past 20 years and the process has gotten more standardised of late.

There will be a standard licence agreement to sign up to (which may be subject to technology restrictions from the US Government) and a list price for the software. The only commercial negotiation will be how much discount is applied to the standard licence cost, and importantly, warranty period and support contract length. Not a long process at all and one that you would expect to be concluded as part of the cars development and launch plans.

Given that Volvo, another Geely company, has incorporated the Google platform into it's car architecture it seems logical to assume a close working partnership between Google and Volvo Geely.

I might be coming across as harsh in several posts, but I really do not see how we can continue to defend Lotus pushing out a product that is not "finished", or, does not have the connectivity options that just about every new car buyer today, demands.

[exeterjeep]

8 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

Lotus pushing out a product that is not "finished"

I do hope that they learn from what has been happening, so when they launch the next 'smaller' SUV, that will sell in greater numbers, that each car works as expected when delivered.

[Barrykearley]

It’s ok @C8RKH I’m sure the New Year will see this resolved with a technical bulletin and directing owners to the use of Tik-Tok shop

[C8RKH]

25 minutes ago, exeterjeep said:

I do hope that they learn from what has been happening, so when they launch the next 'smaller' SUV, that will sell in greater numbers, that each car works as expected when delivered.

Isn't that what we hoped for after the Evora launch? Remind me again how well the Emira launch went in the end...

26 minutes ago, Barrykearley said:

It’s ok @C8RKH I’m sure the New Year will see this resolved with a technical bulletin and directing owners to the use of Tik-Tok shop

More like "Weibo".

[Db10mw]

Lotus replied to say the update at the end of Jan will fix my issue.  Not impressed that I have to go a month with no in car sat nav frankly. 

[C8RKH]

Shambolic.

[aquiss]

17 minutes ago, Db10mw said:

Lotus replied to say the update at the end of Jan will fix my issue.  Not impressed that I have to go a month with no in car sat nav frankly. 

So my 2 takes from this

1) The update is now pushed back to the end of Jan (why!?)

2) Why does a sat nav (where you have already been asked to download local maps) then need "always on" cloud connection to function. Traffic information overlaid (1 example) I can understand, but full on no use, silly.

19 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

Shambolic.

I have to agree....there is a lot they are doing wrong, software and comms wise, which don't seem to have got any better since I was dealing with customer services 3 months ago.

They moved all the call centre things to Leeds....I'm wondering if this disconnect from Norfolk, is half the problem...what's coming out of HQUK, is not getting to call centres.

[C8RKH]

14 minutes ago, aquiss said:

They moved all the call centre things to Leeds....I'm wondering if this disconnect from Norfolk, is half the problem

Nope.

It looks like it is purely a set of management and lack of leadership issues in my very humble opinion. 

It feels obvious to me, and in my very humble opinion, that Lotus in the UK does not have the right management and leadership team in place to deal with the new products.

Whether the issues are due to locations, whether they being Leeds, Norfolk or China, is non other than a failure of management and leadership to put in place the right processes, workflows, and communications mechanisms. That is exactly what management and leadership is there to oversee and deliver. It's the basic premise of their job.

No doubt we'll get the usual apologists telling us we need to give them a break etc.

Shambolic is the only word to use for this.

[kabre]

I think this thread is essentially covering the same as the thread "Issues with software".

I was told this morning by my Lotus dealer this morning that they were actively working to resolve the loss of connectivity with the SatNav (cloud symbol with line through) hopefully by this weekend.  That did sound a bit optimistic, but end of January would be ridiculous and unacceptable! 

I think that sat nav connectivity issue should be separate to the OTA software update - the satnav issue relates only to licencing and expiry dates for licences - they should not need to do an OTA update to correct that unless there are hardcoded dates in the software - surely not!  But it may be that Db10mw has additional issues with the car / user registration.  I am still able to control the car from the Lotus app - but the app is not currently able to locate the car.

Are there any Eletre owners out there who are currently able to use their SatNav in the UK?  If so, then that also gives me more confidence it should be fixed by someone resetting licences on the backend system in China and not have to wait for the OTA update.

But all of this is making me a little nervous about the ability of Lotus to manage the first OTA software update!  Ford recently bricked some of their EVs with such an update, and as it stands I have less confidence in the Lotus developers than Fords!  I might be tempted drive over to Hethel and press the "Accept" button for the OTA update from their car park - assuming we are given a choice to accept it!

Totally agree with C8RKH - this is not good enough and it is definitely a management failure.

 

[Db10mw]

I just replied to them saying that I’m amazed at the situation

i like the car but this sort of thing makes me wonder what else I would have to deal with if other issues crop up (and I used to own an s2 so it’s not like lotus is a new brand for me to deal with)

not quite at the point of giving the car back but if the Jan update doesn’t fix it (which I suspect it won’t) I will have to think again 

my app still says my car is in Bristol when it’s in the middle of london as well.  Rest of the app works fine eg charging status/ range etc

[C8RKH]

59 minutes ago, kabre said:

the satnav issue relates only to licencing and expiry dates for licences - they should not need to do an OTA update to correct that unless there are hardcoded dates in the software - surely not! 

The software will have a parameter for the Licence start, and end date. Once this date is passed, to ensure that a "valid" paid for licence is active, the car will likely need to receive an OTA update to update those parameters. How else do you think the licence date will be updated? The only other alternative is a trip the "dealer" to get the car the car hooked up and the parameters updated over the dealers wifi/diagnostic computer.

The software licence holder will be managing the "valid" dates field, through coded routines embedded in their software, to protect their IP. It will most likely be Lotus that has not properly communicated the start/end dates or provided the information to initiate the refresh. I guess that if the Eletre's are flying out the gates, so to speak, then somewhere there is acomms breakdown or lag between The software vendor, Lotus China (the manufacturer) and Lotus UK (the distribution agent).

[aquiss]

3 hours ago, kabre said:

Are there any Eletre owners out there who are currently able to use their SatNav in the UK?  If so, then that also gives me more confidence it should be fixed by someone resetting licences on the backend system in China and not have to wait for the OTA update.

I have no issues with my Satnav, everything is working and all backend accounts linked to it seem fine.

[Db10mw]

At some point in the last 5 hours my car went back online and nav now works.  However it can no longe locate my car in the app so no idea what’s going on

[Bibs]

It could just be down to the mobile signal where you are, tech has limitations still! My car doesn't get service at my home address and on the map it thinks it's often at the last place it got a signal about a mile up the road! 

[Db10mw]

I drove 90 miles north of london stayed the night and drove back again and it was offline the entire time so it’s not the signal. Plus the screen was showing full 4g signal in the top left corner the entire time.  Also tried hot spotting to my phone and that didn’t fix it either.  

[mg4lotus]

Somebody pulled some strings for you at the factory?

[kabre]

Offline problem was fixed by the time I drove the car again on Saturday.  Sounds like my dealer was correct in what he was saying about China resetting the licence dates.  Not clear as to whether me making the call to the dealer meant I was added to a list of cars to sort out, so if people are still having offline issues then I would suggest giving your dealer a call.

App wasn't showing the location of my car straight away - the car seemed to have forgotten the settings under the "Privacy" options - when I re-enabled that the correct location started showing in the app again.