Yahoo Autos New Jersey Bill Could End Our Impending Automotive Subscription Dystopia
Everything's a godforsaken subscription service these days. It's death by a thousand $4.99 cuts for your wallet. Sure there's your television service, which has splintered into hundreds of separate streaming options, each one catering to a fraction of the shows and sports you actually watch. That's been effectively normalized with Netflix, Peacock, Hulu, and the like. But that payment model has bled into every single facet of our lives.
I trust you share my outrage (An absurd example: I recently opted in to a monthly subscription service for my plumbing contractor to maintain a warranty on work they did. $14.99 per month for three years. Try explaining that concept to your grandfather).
As we know, automakers want in on the grift. Tesla and GM will charge for the use of their complex semi-autonomous driving technologies. BMW has floated the idea of microtransactions for simple luxuries like heated seats, which would require a subscription to activate if you didn't pony up for the cost upfront. Same with adaptive headlights. Even safety features that are physically installed from the factory can only be unlocked via the almighty dollar. Before you know it, your Nalgene will empty all over your lap when the $4.99/month Audi Cupholder Premium Plus membership expires.
A new bill introduced to the New Jersey legislature last month, spotted by The Drive, aims to combat some of this subscription overreach, by preventing automakers from charging a monthly fee for items without "ongoing expense to the dealer, manufacturer, or any third-party service provider."
The interpretation of that statement will no doubt determine the bill's efficacy, should it ever be put into law. You'd think that physical items which are included with the car and require no regular maintenance or improvements via over-the-air updates—like heated seats and cupholders—would fit the proverbial bill. What's less clear is whether autonomous tech, which the bill also mentions, will count.
We assume those goodies will not be covered by the bill, so long as their development is ongoing, which it will be. Now, will automakers simply include slight calibration adjustments to their heated seats in over-the-air updates as a way to justify charging for them monthly? Perhaps.
More importantly, even if the bill is imperfect in its writing or (hopefully eventual) implementation, it signals to automakers that consumers do not want to accept a future in which heated seats and cupholders cost as much as a Peacock subscription.
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