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What happens when the automaker updates the software in your car to charge you a monthly fee in order to use those same computerized components? This is already
by thr0wawayf00 4y ago
What happens when the automaker updates the software in your car to charge you a monthly fee in order to use those same computerized components? This is already happening, most recently with Toyota putting its remote start feature behind a monthly subscription paywall[0]. Imagine buying a car that had all the features you want, only to get an email 6 months later that you now need to pay a subscription to continue using those very same features.
0: https://www.thedrive.com/news/43329/toyota-made-its-key-fob-remote-start-into-a-subscription-service https://www.thedrive.com/news/43329/toyota-made-its-key-fob-...
- slt2021 4y agoit doesnt work exactly like that. when you buy a car, you can either pay full price for a feature, lets say heated seats for $4000, or you can purchase subscription for $80/mo, or you may opt out of that feature, save money and it will be disabled programmatically in your car. Just as if car was never supplied with heating element for seats. yet your car will still be shipped with heated seats - just because it is cheaper to do that for manufacturing purposes. Cheaper to equip all cars with the standard heated seats, than manufacture two model of seats: with and without heating. plus you can always subscribe for that feature any day post purchase, so there is no downside for manufacturer. you get what you pay for. you can always pay upfront for the feature and will never have to pay subscription