Bricked PCM

[Bill33525]

Came out of lunch today and the PCM display was blank with "PORSCHE" displayed on it. Passenger display had "Taycan" displayed. Sent pictures to my SA who said an OTA Update bricked the PCM. Further said SW fix on the way. Anyone know anymore?

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[Hirschaj]

This can happen sometimes. It will probably be working fine tomorrow. It probably had nothing to do with an OTA update and it’s probably not bricked. Just buggy software that resolves itself.

 

[Jayyvr890]

Once again SA advising things he knows nothing about.

PCM is buggy, it often resets mid drive for me and has crashed a few times. Usually turning car off for a few hours solves the problem.

I wouldn't be worried unless the issue persists.

 

[ChronoMax]

agree with above
this actually happened to our car at delivery
embarrassing to say the least.
that was December 2021
disappointing this is still happening

 

[bah1590]

Came out of lunch today and the PCM display was blank with "PORSCHE" displayed on it. Passenger display had "Taycan" displayed. Sent pictures to my SA who said an OTA Update bricked the PCM. Further said SW fix on the way. Anyone know anymore?

Here is a thread on it.

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/spinning-circle-on-center-console-main-screen.13694/

 

[Raphie]

I was getting a “navigation update installed” about 20x in the past 2 days while driving in Germany.
either I got access to a queue via LTE roaming that was not active in my country or it was just raining updates in the past 2 days. No locked startup screens though.

 

[Bill33525]

The car was okay this morning after locking the car overnight. Could have been a real inconvenience if we were on a trip and needed the Navagation screen. Played Pandora on the phone to have some music in the cabin while driving home.

 

[tutis]

happens to all of us every now and then.

As for why this is happening, AFAIR Porsche based PCM 6 (cannot find the link) on some flavour of Android which is a real step down on the reliability of the PCM OS they use in the Cayenne, Macan, 911 etc. Android is not designed to be used as a server or anything where reliability is key; there are super reliable commercial OS available for these types of applications (e.g. Blackberry QNX and other Realtime OS.)

 

[Oink]

...Porsche based PCM 6 on some flavour of Android...

This... doesn't seem right. Like, at all.

 

[tutis]

This... doesn't seem right. Like, at all.

It's definitely a version of Linux (see in the article). So not a realtime OS that this kind of application deserves.

I think one of the PCM 6 announcement videos mentioned Android, it was an official Porsche video. I remember there was some controversy after that because devs were complaining about the lack of Android Auto on an Android based system until they finally brought it to Taycan. The fonts, and hamburger menus have that Android feel. Still looking for that source mentioning Android base, will post if I find it.


Update: most likely that PCM 6 runs a reskin of vw.os which as per this wikipedia page runs on Android Kernel

Update 2: that same wikipedia page I linked above mentions that version 1.2 of vw.os is used for the PPE platform which the Taycan uses. So 99% sure that Taycan runs Android kernel. Not using an established commercial OS and going for build your own is a risky strategy to follow, but completely suicidal if you are a complete newly to OS development and a bad one a that like we all have experienced Porsche to be. And in the process they saved a handful $ on licensing fees for each car. Great

 

[JAGMAN]

Came out of lunch today and the PCM display was blank with "PORSCHE" displayed on it. Passenger display had "Taycan" displayed. Sent pictures to my SA who said an OTA Update bricked the PCM. Further said SW fix on the way. Anyone know anymore?

Software bugs aside, it is important for you to know how to reboot the system on your own. Of course you shouldn't have to, but to your point, if on a long trip it is a must-know procedure.

Use two fingers and touch at the top right of the center display (near where the clock is displayed). Then touch <"Reboot to Normal mode">. Full reboot takes several minutes. The screen will be usable within a minute, but navigation and sound take longer.

As others have said, this is NOT an OTA, just a bug.

 

[Bill33525]

I did reboot the PCM several times yesterday and that did not restore normal function.

My SA says they have an update to fix this issue. Will schedule an appointment next week.

 

[tutis]

Software bugs aside, it is important for you to know how to reboot the system on your own. Of course you shouldn't have to, but to your point, if on a long trip it is a must-know procedure.

Use two fingers and touch at the top right of the center display (near where the clock is displayed). Then touch <"Reboot to Normal mode">. Full reboot takes several minutes. The screen will be usable within a minute, but navigation and sound take longer.

As others have said, this is NOT an OTA, just a bug.

When I had the PCM stuck on boot before (usually once every 4-6 weeks) the engineering reboot with 2 fingers doesn't always resolve the issue. I have had a couple of instances where I needed the PCM to plan for charging stops and needed instead to rely on my phone as the PCM wouldn't complete its reboot despite restarting with the two fingers method.

Btw, Porsche knew the infotainment was unreliable, because the dashboard (behind steering wheel) runs a separate OS which continues to run even when central screen infotainment is inoperative. Porsche wouldn't dare having the main screen where speed, battery remaining, and ADAS controls live being unresponsive. Had they been confident about the main screen OS (Android) then they would have used it as well for the behind steering wheel OS too, but they didn't.

 

[Parlorman]

The same thing happened to me yesterday. I came out from a music gig and the PCM screen just showed the Porsche script. I’ve read enough about it that I just drove home, confident it would be fine this morning, which it was.

The ubiquitous electronics in modern cars give me pause. They are wonderfully useful, but I’ve been working with computers since 1972 and every single one has failures, bugs and glitches That often worsen as they get older. Same for smart phones, and the like.

I’m a bit nostalgic for old school analog cars. My 1967 E-Type Jaguar never stranded me. The one time it acted up it wouldn’t start, but I hadn’t heard the familiar click of the fuel pump and gave it a tap with the handle of a screwdriver and was on my way.

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