Thanks for giving me a new thing to be confused about for this car! So, do I have to do the update via download/USB or can it do it over the air? I went into my account and online map updates needed to be "activated" and now it says "pending".

 

If you have digital extras and online map updates are enabled then you should get them OTA, but it may be a while before you get them. Also, if you are too far behind you may never get a map update OTA. It you do not want to wait, you can manually download them to a USB thumb with a computer and update the maps manually. In Q3 2024 we were on v9 and now in Q1 2026 we are on v15 which tracks to one update per quarter.

 

Yes that is what I did, the process is the same as my family member's 2019 e coupe, it is just that for some reason in Canada that link is hidden post 2020+ model years so I had to use the work around you provided. Yes OTA always takes many months, it is a staged roll out for me so I decided manual is the best option.

Edit: Oops sorry the post was not directed to me.

 

It is OTA and automatic as the other forum member described, sorry for the confusion.

 

i hadn't drive the E53 in a few days, and when we went out this weekend, my wife pointed out that on the maps, the icon for the car switched to a mini version of my car rather than a plain arrow.

 

It should have always done that as long as route guidance is on. If guidance is off it shows an arrow.

 

This was in guidance or not. Definitely new behavior, at least in my car, and I haven't seen any notifications of OTA updates lately.

 

The car avatar changes from car to arrow, depending on the map zoom level. Zoomed in = car. Zoomed out = arrow.