check out this b.s! Mercedes charging per year for rear wheel steering increase... every year!

[bigdogrod]

https://www.motor1.com/news/521960/mercedes-eqs-rear-wheel-steering/


ok 1 time charge i can see, but every year? what are there updates to make it steer more every year?

this is the kind of thing i'd like to see as a 1 time cost, to get initial investment down for the masses.

unfortunately i can see all manufacturers starting this crap. like you need to kick 5 bucks a month for intermittent wipers, another 5 for heated drivers seat, another 5 for passenger. etc, oh you want daytime running lights or keyless entry... 5 dollar please!

wait they have already started.. how 'bout some autopilot... 200 per month please. although in this case it might make sense becasue you don't get to take ap with you and it does not transfer to the next owner.

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[skyote]

Vote with your wallet against this type of model. They'll come around.

 

[Caymanwent]

https://www.motor1.com/news/521960/mercedes-eqs-rear-wheel-steering/


ok 1 time charge i can see, but every year? what are there updates to make it steer more every year?

this is the kind of thing i'd like to see as a 1 time cost, to get initial investment down for the masses.

unfortunately i can see all manufacturers starting this crap. like you need to kick 5 bucks a month for intermittent wipers, another 5 for heated drivers seat, another 5 for passenger. etc, oh you want daytime running lights or keyless entry... 5 dollar please!

wait they have already started.. how 'bout some autopilot... 200 per month please. although in this case it might make sense becasue you don't get to take ap with you and it does not transfer to the next owner.

I feel like this is something hackers can take care of.

 

[TessP100D]

This crap was started by Crazy Elon. Now all manufacturers are going to have board meetings to try to Figure out how to rip people off. Their selling software, not cars.

 

[ActionDH]

It will only get worse, everything is becoming a subscription service ?

 

[thrill]

I feel like this is something hackers can take care of.

Enabling onboard capabilities in a vehicle that are "turned off" by the manufacturer are probably going to be legally ok, though I think it's a gray area that's been ignored because it's not a significant income stream yet. Enabling capabilities that draw data from the cloud in order to operate, such as autopilot that needs constant map updates to comply with safety (not a historic strong suit for some self driving projects, I know) are probably not going to be ignored. It depends on how far the manufacturers want to push it in response to the loss of income. Hacking around this could easily fit into the unauthorized access to a computer and theft of service illegalities, not to mention operating such a system (by definition) unsafely via intentional bypass, plus a bunch of stuff actual prosecutors could probably think of.

 

[Caymanwent]

Enabling onboard capabilities in a vehicle that are "turned off" by the manufacturer are probably going to be legally ok, though I think it's a gray area that's been ignored because it's not a significant income stream yet. Enabling capabilities that draw data from the cloud in order to operate, such as autopilot that needs constant map updates to comply with safety (not a historic strong suit for some self driving projects, I know) are probably not going to be ignored. It depends on how far the manufacturers want to push it in response to the loss of income. Hacking around this could easily fit into the unauthorized access to a computer and theft of service illegalities, not to mention operating such a system (by definition) unsafely via intentional bypass, plus a bunch of stuff actual prosecutors could probably think of.

Locking up hardware capabilities, of a car you own, through software and then charging to unlock. I don’t think they will have much legal recourse but you might run into regulatory issues for safety reasons. Hacking access to cloud dependent vehicle systems would be different as you pointed out.

 

[Smithery]

Locking up hardware capabilities, of a car you own, through software and then charging to unlock. I don’t think they will have much legal recourse but you might run into regulatory issues for safety reasons...

Take for example the Teslas with part of their battery capacity ignored by software unless you paid to upgrade.

Hackers could unlock that capacity and probably not suffer any legal consequences; Modifying cars is explicitly well protected in most states, e.g.

But once they illicitly unlock that capacity Tesla can now legally cut them off from future software updates and the Supercharger network, e.g.

It's all licensing and following the terms of service you agreed to, and while you might be in the clear legally there can still be consequences. Everything's a tradeoff.

 

[crashmtb]

“Our customers have asked us for more choice in the features of their vehicle, and so we are proud to announce they can now pay monthly for them!”

 

[PAFDenver]

This is completely normal in electronics and software, so why not do it with cars? Heck, it's everywhere. Electronics manufacturers started doing this decades ago - to save money. Instead of having to design, verify, test, inventory and store 2 separate versions on many of their products, they design, verify & test one version that has the more advanced versions and disable the extra capabilities on the lesser product. Many, or most, processors that have different numbers of cores employ this strategy. They blow internal fuses to change 8 core processors into 4 core or 6 core versions.
If they had to build 2 completely separate versions of the processors they would both be more expensive (you couldn't share the development costs between 2 or more products) and it would be harder for them to keep the inventory for both of them balanced. It's definitely a win for consumers.
It actually sounds great for a car. I would much prefer to buy the lower priced version, test out the higher priced feature for a short time and THEN decide whether I need it or not! If I like it enough, I buy it, if not, I don't. That would be fantastic! Or only buy it when i need it. Going on a long trip - I'll subscribe to FSD for a month and then turn it off afterwards. Much better than making a $10,000 decision before I buy and then finding out I never really use it.
This is really smart decision and should be applauded. Only want 4 degrees of rear steering, great - buy the base model. You want all 10 degrees, here's how you unlock it.

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