I spent a long time on the phone yesterday and today with Audi customer service representatives. The answer is, at least for my 2021 RS7, that I must have an Audi Connect subscription to obtain automatic over the air map/system updates. The free six month trial has long expired (and I'm not the original owner; I bought the car used), so if I want to have my maps updated, I was told that I must purchase a paid Audi Connect subscription. Even with the automatic updates button turned on in my MMI, my car will not automatically update without an Audi Connect subscription.
So, today I paid $365 for a one year subscription. I could have instead paid $36 per month, but that turns out to be $432 a year, so I just paid for a full year. I now have more options on my Audi phone app, and of course now my car will now show me weather, traffic, and news because of the subscription. I just went out to my car and, not surprisingly, a box popped up on my screen stating that the car was downloading a map update. It took approximately 20 minutes (I didn't really keep track), and it downloaded successfully. I now am able to turn on the Google Earth maps, which I couldn't previously turn on because I didn't have an Audi Connect subscription (the button was grayed out). I'm happy overall, but it does suck that I paid so much for this car and now I have to continue to pay more to get map updates. Also, it sucks that my street, which was created in 2018, still isn't identified by name on the maps. The street itself shows up, but not the name of the street, so I can't program my home address into my favorites. I'd think that since my street has now been in existence for four years, the street name should show up by now. On the other hand, my 2021 Genesis G90 that I got rid of in August of this year, which also had automatic over the air updates, didn't have my street name on the map, either, although the street itself showed up. One strange observation: my home address/street pulls up just fine on my Audi phone app, but it won't pull up in my car in the nav search. Weird.
Finally, I was told that the dealership "should" be able to update my maps without me purchasing an Audi Connect subscription. But there's no doubt in my mind that the dealership will charge at least a couple hundred dollars, and then I'd have to take it back later anyway and pay again, so it makes more sense for me to have an Audi Connect subscription so that my car automatically updates instead of me having to take it to the dealership every year or so. I hope this post helps someone. I spent a LOT of time simply trying to find out how my car's maps can be updated.
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Originally Posted by bobamoo
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