BYD vs Tesla OTA Updates: Which Brand Delivers Better Software?

Tesla pioneered over-the-air updates, but BYD now pushes them far more often. In 2025, BYD delivered around 200 OTA updates across its Ocean and Dynasty models, against Tesla's 16 in the Chinese market. Tesla still leads on depth, with dramatic updates that have added horsepower and improved braking. BYD leads on sheer frequency, helped by designing its own chips and software in-house. Both let you improve your car after purchase, and neither locks essential features behind a paywall the way some rivals do.

OTA Updates at a Glance

Measurement	BYD	Tesla
Updates in 2025	About 200	16 (China market)
Pioneer	No	Yes
Typical install time	Around 2 hours	Under 30 minutes
Updates infotainment	Yes	Yes
Updates ADAS	Yes	Yes
Updates battery management	Yes	Yes
In-house chips and software	Yes	Yes

What Are OTA Updates and Why They Matter

Over-the-air updates are software improvements sent wirelessly to your car, with no workshop visit needed. They arrive through Wi-Fi or a built-in mobile connection.

The significance is simple: your car can genuinely improve after you buy it. Instead of being fixed at its launch specification, it becomes a platform that evolves, gaining features, refining behaviour, and fixing bugs over time.

Updates fall into two broad types. SOTA covers infotainment and non-critical systems, while FOTA can change critical systems like ADAS, the battery, and suspension, and requires far stricter certification.

Tesla OTA Frequency and History

Tesla invented the modern OTA update and remains the reference point. It pushes updates regularly, often monthly, and owners can choose Standard or Advanced release timing on the touchscreen.

Its history includes some genuinely remarkable examples:

• Added around 50 horsepower to the Model 3 Performance, for free, improving the 0 to 100 km/h time
• Improved Model 3 braking distance by several metres within days of a critical review
• Temporarily unlocked extra battery range to help owners evacuate ahead of a hurricane
• Resolved safety recalls entirely through software, with no service visit

These are the updates that built Tesla's software reputation, and no rival has matched that depth of single-update impact.

BYD OTA Frequency and History

BYD is the newer force, and on frequency it has overtaken everyone. Chinese research firm Ways found BYD delivered roughly 200 OTA updates across its Ocean and Dynasty models in 2025, the most of any automaker globally.

• BYD: About 200 updates
• Tesla: 16 in the Chinese market
• Toyota: 8
• Volkswagen: 5

The Han L sedan shows the approach. Launched in April 2025, it received multiple major functional updates within its first year, improving its end-to-end AI perception and decision-making. BYD credits its ability to update so often to designing its own semiconductors, operating systems, and hardware in-house. Our model guide on how to install OTA updates on the Atto 3 walks through the process step by step.

What Gets Updated: Infotainment, ADAS and Battery

Both brands update across the whole vehicle, not just the screen. Eligible systems include:

• Infotainment: Navigation maps, touchscreen responsiveness, voice assistant, and app compatibility
• ADAS: Adaptive cruise tuning, lane-keeping sensitivity, and emergency braking parameters
• Battery management: Charging curve optimisation, thermal tuning, and state-of-charge accuracy
• Driving dynamics: Regenerative braking calibration and throttle mapping

For BYD owners, updates to regenerative braking and driving feel can genuinely change the car's character, as our guide to how the Atto 3's regenerative braking works explains.

Feature Unlocks: Paid vs Free

This is where buyers should pay close attention. Both brands include most improvements free, but both also sell premium features.

• Tesla: Full Self-Driving is a significant paid option or subscription, though core Autopilot and most refinements come free
• BYD: Delivers the vast majority of updates free, and is building, but has not fully adopted, a subscription model for premium ADAS tiers

Neither brand has gone as far as some rivals. The industry's cautionary tale is a European brand charging a monthly fee for heated seats whose hardware was already fitted.

Update Download and Install Process

The process is broadly similar, with one important safety detail unique to BYD.

The Atto 3's owner's manual sets out clear rules before updating: park safely in P with a stable network connection, ensure the battery is sufficiently charged, and do not move the vehicle during the upgrade. Critically, it warns that you must not have any third-party device installed in the OBD port before or during the update.

That OBD warning matters because many owners fit aftermarket dongles for data logging, and leaving one connected can interfere with the update.

User Experience During Updates

You cannot drive during installation on either brand, but the wait differs.

• Tesla: Most updates finish in under 30 minutes
• BYD: A major update can take around two hours

During a BYD update, the manual confirms that almost all functions are unavailable, except the smart key locking, interior light, hazard lights, and window switches. The car also cannot be charged or discharged mid-update, which is why a full battery is recommended.

Tesla's shorter install time is a genuine convenience advantage, particularly for frequent updates.

Notable Updates That Changed the Car

Both brands have shipped updates that materially altered the vehicle:

• Tesla: The free horsepower boost and the braking-distance fix remain the industry's most cited examples
• BYD: The Han L's driver-assistance overhaul in early 2026 improved perception and decision-making for more complex roads, delivered to existing owners
• Both: Battery management refinements that improved efficiency without any hardware change

Which Brand Updates Better?

It depends what you mean by better.

Tesla wins on depth and speed. Its updates install faster and have delivered the most dramatic single improvements the industry has seen, backed by more than a decade of refinement.

BYD wins on frequency and breadth. Around 200 updates a year keeps its cars evolving constantly, and its vertical integration means it can touch everything from the infotainment to the battery chemistry quickly.

For a buyer, the honest takeaway is that both brands offer excellent, genuinely useful OTA support that puts most legacy carmakers to shame. Neither will leave you stuck with the car you bought.

Common Mistakes

• Assuming Tesla updates most often: BYD pushed around 200 updates in 2025 to Tesla's 16 in China
• Leaving an OBD dongle plugged in: BYD's manual warns this can interfere with an update
• Starting an update on low battery: The car cannot charge mid-update, so charge first
• Trying to move the car during install: Both brands lock out driving until it finishes
• Expecting every update to add features: Many are quiet bug fixes and refinements
• Confusing frequency with quality: More updates is not automatically better than fewer, deeper ones