OTA Solutions: Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) for Software-Defined Vehicles

FOTA Solution

Secure, Scalable & Production-Ready FOTA Platform for OEMs

ElectRay’s OTA Solutions deliver secure, scalable Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) for OEMs, enabling remote ECU updates, regulatory compliance, and continuous software improvement for SDVs.

ElectRay’s Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) solution enables automotive, EV, commercial, and off-highway OEMs to remotely update vehicle software with maximum security, reliability, and scalability. Built for the era of Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), our FOTA solution combines embedded ECU reliability with cloud-native update orchestration, helping manufacturers deploy software updates faster, reduce recalls, and continuously enhance vehicle performance across the entire vehicle lifecycle.

With ElectRay FOTA, vehicles no longer leave the factory frozen in time, they evolve safely and continuously through software.

 FOTA Solutions allows OEMs to:

  • Fix critical bugs and security vulnerabilities remotely
  • Deliver new features and performance improvements post-sale
  • Ensure regulatory compliance across global fleets
  • Significantly reduce recall, warranty, and service costs
  • Improve vehicle uptime and customer satisfaction

FOTA is no longer optional. It is a core pillar of connected and software-defined vehicle architectures.

Why Firmware Over-the-Air Is Critical for Modern Vehicles

Today’s vehicles run millions of lines of software distributed across multiple ECUs and domains. Managing these systems manually is costly, slow, and error-prone. Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) transforms vehicle software management by enabling secure, remote, cloud-orchestrated firmware updates without requiring workshop visits.

In modern zonal and centralized E/E architectures, FOTA is essential to maintain software consistency, manage inter-ECU dependencies, and support continuous software evolution in SDV platforms.

Key Business Benefits for OEMs & Fleet Operators

  • Faster Time-to-Market: Deploy software updates instantly across regions and vehicle variants, accelerating innovation without hardware changes.
  • Reduced Recalls & Operational Costs:  Replace costly physical recalls and workshop-based ECU flashing through remote updates.
  • Continuous Vehicle Improvement:  Enable feature enhancements, calibration updates, and performance tuning throughout the vehicle lifecycle.
  • Improved Customer Experience:  Vehicles get smarter over time, delivering a seamless, smartphone-like ownership experience.
  • Scalable Fleet Management:  Manage updates for a few vehicles or millions using intelligent, campaign-based rollouts.

FOTA Solution Core Capabilities

Multi-ECU & Domain-Wide Updates

ElectRay FOTA supports firmware updates across VCU, BMS, ADAS, Infotainment, Telematics, Body, Powertrain, Gateway, and Central Compute ECUs.

The solution is AUTOSAR-aligned (Classic & Adaptive) and supports non-AUTOSAR environments, enabling deployment across heterogeneous vehicle architectures.

Secure End-to-End Update Pipeline

Security is embedded at every layer

  • Encrypted firmware delivery
  • Digital signing and authentication
  • Secure boot and rollback protection
  • Tamper detection and version control
Intelligent Update Strategies
  • Delta updates to reduce bandwidth usage
  • Resume-on-failure for unstable networks
  • Pre-update validation and post-update health checks
  • Safe rollback mechanisms to ensure vehicle operability
ECU Dependency & Update Sequencing Management
  • Cross-ECU dependency checks before deployment
  • Controlled update sequencing across domains
  • Version compatibility validation across vehicle variants
  • Safe orchestration for zonal and centralized E/E platforms
Cloud-Native & OEM-Controlled

The platform integrates seamlessly with AWS, Azure, or private cloud infrastructures.
OEMs retain full ownership and control of update policies, certificates, data, and deployment logic through API-driven integration with existing backends and connected vehicle systems.

Technical Architecture Overview

ElectRay’s FOTA solution is built on a layered, production-grade architecture designed for scalability, safety, and large fleet deployments. The architecture cleanly separates cloud orchestration, vehicle-level control, and ECU-level execution, enabling reliable OTA updates across diverse vehicle platforms.

OEM OTA Cloud & Campaign Management Layer

The cloud layer manages the complete OTA lifecycle and provides OEMs with full operational visibility and control.

Key responsibilities include:

  • Firmware artifact storage, versioning, and compatibility metadata
  • OTA campaign creation, scheduling, and rollout management
  • Vehicle and fleet targeting by VIN, variant, region, or configuration
  • Secure messaging and APIs (HTTPS, MQTT) for update coordination
  • Security, identity, access control, logging, and compliance audit trails

This layer integrates seamlessly with OEM backends and cloud environments (public or private), while retaining OEM ownership of data and policies.

Vehicle-Level FOTA Orchestration Layer

At the vehicle level, ElectRay deploys a dedicated FOTA Master that acts as the central intelligence for OTA execution.

Key responsibilities include:

  • Orchestrating the overall update flow at vehicle level
  • Managing ECU update order, dependencies, retries, and rollback logic
  • Monitoring vehicle safety and state conditions (ignition, speed, battery, charging, etc.)
  • Coordinating secure flashing via diagnostic services
  • Reporting real-time status and results back to the cloud

This design ensures OTA updates are safe, deterministic, and resilient, even in complex multi-ECU and zonal architectures.

ECU Update Execution & Secure Flash Layer

At the ECU level, updates are executed using standard, proven mechanisms.

Includes:

  • UDS-based diagnostic communication
  • Memory services
  • Secure flash bootloader integration
  • Firmware transfer, verification, and activation
  • Support for fail-safe and recovery mechanisms

This layer ensures compatibility with AUTOSAR-aligned (Classic & Adaptive) as well as non-AUTOSAR ECUs, without imposing architectural lock-in.

 Safety, Cybersecurity & Regulatory Readiness

ElectRay FOTA is designed to support automotive safety and cybersecurity expectations,

Including:

  • ISO 26262 (Functional Safety) support mechanisms
  • ISO 21434 cybersecurity principles
  • UNECE R155 (Cybersecurity) and UNECE R156 (OTA / SUMS) readiness
  • Secure key management and access control policies

This enables OEMs to deploy OTA updates with confidence and regulatory alignment.

FOTA Use Cases Across Vehicle Segments

  • Electric Vehicles (EVs): VCU, BMS, MCU, Inverter, and charger updates
  • Commercial Vehicles: Fleet-wide ECU updates with minimal downtime
  • Off-Highway & Agricultural Equipment: Remote updates in low-connectivity environments
  • Manufacturing & EOL: Factory flashing with seamless transition to OTA post-SOP
  • Feature Enablement: Software-locked features activated OTA
  • Cybersecurity Patching: Rapid response to emerging threats

Built for OEMs, Tier-1s & Mobility Innovators

ElectRay FOTA can be deployed as:

  • A standalone OTA solution
  • Part of a Connected Vehicle Platform
  • A white-label OEM OTA system

Flexible commercial models support licensing, per-vehicle pricing, or full platform deployments.

Ready to Power Your OTA & SDV Strategy?

Contact us to see how ElectRay FOTA can accelerate your software-defined vehicle roadmap.

FAQ’s

A secure, production-ready solution that enables remote ECU firmware updates over the air
without requiring workshop visits.

It enables remote bug fixes, feature updates, and compliance updates, reducing
recalls and improving customer experience.

Supports powertrain, ADAS, infotainment, telematics, BMS, gateways, and central
compute ECUs across multiple vehicle domains.

Through encrypted delivery, digital signatures, secure boot validation, and fail-safe rollback mechanisms.

By using delta updates, resume-on-failure support, pre-update validation, controlled sequencing, and safe rollback strategies.

It integrates with AWS, Azure, or private clouds via APIs for centralized campaign
orchestration and fleet management.

Yes. It is AUTOSAR-aligned and also supports non-AUTOSAR ECUs.

Through a vehicle-level FOTA orchestration layer that manages update order, safety conditions, retries, and rollback across ECUs.

Faster feature deployment, reduced recalls, remote fleet control, and continuous
vehicle software improvement.

Suitable for EVs, commercial vehicles, off-highway machinery, motorcycles, and
industrial autonomous vehicles.