The idea of turning cars into computers on wheels has always appealed me.
As a computer engineer, I’ve always failed to see the point of a system with hundreds of physical moving parts, grease, oil, and an inefficient engine that burns fossil leftovers and spits out pollutants. It always seemed to me like an inefficient vestige from another century that should belong to museums rather than roads.
What I could not foresee is that the new “computers on wheels” would have taken all the most awful ideas from my industry and bring them to the automotive industry.
Do you want your car to have heated seats? That’s $16/month. Remove the power limitations artificially added to your engine? That’ll be $60-90 a month. Have the media system on your car to play more formats? Another subscription. Get an all-in-one package with no subscriptions? That’ll be a few thousands bucks. And don’t worry, all these upgrades are just one click away and will be delivered over-the-air to your car when you click accept, just like a smartphone.
What’s more immoral and annoying than a paywall, a pointless subscription or an aggressive upsell strategy on the Web? Well, when the same business model comes to your car.
It’s time for regulators to intervene before it’s too late. The idea of limiting the power of my own car’s engine unless I pay a monthly fee is just so plain wrong that I’m surprised that nobody has slammed Mercedes yet.