Determining whether a vehicle should be configured for a different region

An apparatus comprising:

• a vehicle computing device;
• and
• a plurality of control units, used to control various subsystems of a vehicle, coupled to the vehicle computing device, wherein each of the plurality of control units are coupled to each other and the vehicle computing device via a bus and wherein each respective control unit of the plurality of control units comprises:
• a respective storage device configured to store a country identifier and a date;
• and
• a respective processor coupled to the respective storage device;
• wherein the vehicle computing device is configured to:
• receive a message comprising a current date and a current country identifier indicating a country in which the vehicle is located on the current date;
• and
• send the current date and the current country identifier to each respective control unit, wherein each respective controller from the plurality of control units receives a different instance of the current date and the current country identifier;
• and
• wherein each respective processor of the plurality of control units is configured to:
• compare the current country identifier to the country identifier stored in the respective storage device;
• compare the current date to the date stored in the respective storage device in response to the current country identifier matching the country identifier stored in the respective storage device;
• determine a continuous length of time that the vehicle has been located in the current country in response to the current date not matching the date stored in the respective storage device;
• send a request, to the vehicle computing device, for a software update in response to a count being greater than a threshold count and the continuous length of time being greater than or equal to a threshold length of time;
• receive the software update from the vehicle computing device;
• determine each respective control unit of the plurality of control units that selectively needs to be updated in response to receiving the software update, wherein each respective processor determines whether to update a corresponding control unit from the plurality of control units independently from other processors of the plurality of processors, and wherein each respective processor determines whether to update the corresponding control unit from the plurality of control units when the count is greater than the threshold count;
• update each respective control unit with the software update in response to determining that a portion of the plurality of control units are selectively deemed to need to be updated, wherein the software update includes instructions to disable a function of the vehicle based on a set of rules corresponding to the current country identifier;
• wherein the respective storage device is coupled to the plurality of processors and is configured to:
• store the received software update;
• store the count corresponding to the continuous length of time and to the respective processor of each respective control unit;
• and
• wherein each respective processor is configured to, in response to the current country identifier being different than the country identifier:
• reset the stored count to an initial value;
• and
• replace the country identifier with the current country identifier.

A method, comprising:

• receiving a message, at a vehicle, comprising a current date and a current country identifier indicating a country in which the vehicle is located on the current date;
• storing a count corresponding to a continuous length of time;
• comparing, using a processor of a control unit from a plurality of control units, used to control various subsystems of the vehicle, the current country identifier to a country identifier stored on the control unit wherein each of a plurality of processors of the plurality of control units are coupled to each other and a vehicle computing device via a bus;
• comparing, using the processor, the current date to a date stored on the control unit in response to the current country identifier matching the country identifier stored on the control unit;
• determining the continuous length of time that the control unit has been located in the country in response to the current date not matching the date stored on the control unit;
• sending a request, to the vehicle computing device, for a software update in response to the count being greater than a threshold and the continuous length of time being greater than or equal to a threshold length of time;
• receiving the software update from the vehicle computing device;
• determining each respective control unit of the plurality of control units that selectively needs to be updated in response to receiving the software update, wherein each respective processor determines whether to update a corresponding control unit from the plurality of control units independently from other processors of the plurality of processors, and wherein each respective processor determines whether to update the corresponding control unit from the plurality of control units when the count is greater than the threshold count;
• updating each respective control unit with the software update in response to determining that a portion of the plurality of control units are selectively deemed to need to be updated, wherein the software update includes instructions to disable a function of the vehicle based on a set of rules corresponding to the current country identifier;
• and
• in response to the current country identifier being different than the country identifier:
• resetting the stored count to an initial value;
• and
• replacing the country identifier with the current country identifier.