Audi firmware updates

Note: this is just what worked on my 2014 A8L, I make no guarantees nor take no responsibility for you screwing up your car.

Overview

The 2014 A8L has several firmwares. One main group is the MMI firmware, the other main group is the navigation map database.

One way to update things is go to your dealer, but this costs a lot.

Normally your MMI firmware is updated only when you have an issue. If you want to speed up the process, you can find out the bugs (like the system switches to 2G but never switches back to 3G) and report you have that problem to the dealer. Going through TSBs can do this too.

The Navigation map updates are another ball of wax. First, apparently you can get up to 5 updates for free with a new car in the newer models, I do not know the rule for my year, especially since I am not the original owner. Also, if you subscribe to Audi Connect, you can download the map updates and apply them yourself, although this is apparently a very slow and painful process, some people reporting the map download from the Internet taking up to 20 hours.

Maps also need activation/licensing when updated. If you go online you can find a $45 part that seems to be a license.

The bottom line seems to be that except MMI updates under warranty, updates to the car are either a painful or expensive (or both) process.

I read the forums starting when I got my "new" car and found a company in the UK that will make up the update files, and the activation/license and send you 3 SD cards to perform the update: http://www.audiupdates.com

It was a pleasant experience and was inexpensive by comparision to the dealer. The mmi firmware first, then map, then license/activation.

How do I read out my software versions?

MMI update

Note: during the update process, the MMI will shut down, reboot, the screen close and open, do not freak out, just be patient.

Remove any SIM card and SD memory cards first.

Put the car on a charger and turn on, don't start

Wait 5 minutes to be sure mmi is fully on (turn it on if it's not on)

enter engineering menu, TONE & BACK keys

select standard update (you can do a "user defined" update, to select just some firmware modules, but you need to enable this in the "green menu"

scroll to bottom of list of firmwares and select start update

you will see a screen telling you the number of updates and progress, mine took about 17 minutes

select "continue" after that

then select "abort documentation"

the MMI should reboot, you are done.

Note: everything worked except Google Maps. I ran the procedure again and then it worked. Apparently this is a common issue with the GEMMI (I guess that is Google Earth MMI) not updating on the first "pass"

Navigation update

Note: during the update process, the MMI will shut down, reboot, the screen close and open, do not freak out, just be patient.

there is an optional step, to delete the old NAV data, highly recommended

you need to enter the "green menu"... since I just updated my firmware, I had to use VCDS to re-enable

enter green menu

delete nav partition... you will see it "stopping" a process

then it will say ..stopped

wait 30 seconds, and then do the MMI 3 button reset

now turn back on and wait 5 minutes

to begin the update go to engineering menu (TONE & BACK)

the update sequence is the same as the MMI updateabove, standard, start, etc.

you get a progress percentage as with the MMI update

Activation / License

This is required for the map update to be able to be used. The 3rd SD card