If it’s already built into the car the car won’t be any less expensive just because the features is locked behind a subscription.
Even if you don’t buy the subscription, you already payed for the feature since they already built it into your car. They didn’t do that for free and hope that you pay for it later.
It’s a lot cheaper for OEMs to just manufacture one SKU (a car with all the hardware) than to manufacture have a bunch of different options. Now wether or not they pass those savings to the consumer, I have my doubts
They didn’t do that for free and hope that you pay for it later.
That is, in fact, the business model.
Cars already are wired for many features or have software gates on them. For decades now, they’ll run the wire for a rain sensor but not include the sensor, because it’s more expensive to have two parts for the harness than to not hook it up. Or they’ll include the full hardware requirements for GPS but it’s gated in software. You can go to the dealer, pay $1000 and get navigation turned on.
If it’s already built into the car the car won’t be any less expensive just because the features is locked behind a subscription.
Even if you don’t buy the subscription, you already payed for the feature since they already built it into your car. They didn’t do that for free and hope that you pay for it later.
It’s a lot cheaper for OEMs to just manufacture one SKU (a car with all the hardware) than to manufacture have a bunch of different options. Now wether or not they pass those savings to the consumer, I have my doubts
That is, in fact, the business model.
Cars already are wired for many features or have software gates on them. For decades now, they’ll run the wire for a rain sensor but not include the sensor, because it’s more expensive to have two parts for the harness than to not hook it up. Or they’ll include the full hardware requirements for GPS but it’s gated in software. You can go to the dealer, pay $1000 and get navigation turned on.