BMW starting microtransactions

[Skanky Vamp]

This is not a bad idea, depending on price, and how it actually works.

Check it out:

Cars are more full of computers and software than ever before, which has made it possible for automakers to add new features or patch problems on the fly with over-the-air software updates. This has also presented these automakers with new ways of making money.

The German automaker announced on Wednesday that all cars equipped with its newest “Operating System 7” software will soon receive an update that makes it possible for the company to tinker with all sorts of functions in the car, like access to heated seats and driving assist features like automatic high beams or adaptive cruise control. And the company unsurprisingly plans to use this ability to make money.

This would work in a few different ways, according to BMW. The most straightforward is that an owner can, at some point, pay to access certain features that they didn’t initially buy with the car. This could also work the other way, though. Don’t particularly feel the need for heated seats anymore? Go ahead and turn off the feature. BMW didn’t go into too much detail about pricing or terms, but Roadshow reports that the automaker is planning to make it so owners can “subscribe” to certain features for as little as three months.

 

[sk]

Great... so soon we will have to pay to turn on the heated seats, turn on the radio or start the car...

/SK

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Great... so soon we will have to pay to turn on the heated seats, turn on the radio or start the car...

/SK

Again, depending on how frequently you use it, or the cost, it could be a good thing. There are but a few months in the year I would kill for automatic high-beams. But to get them when I purchased the vehicle, it was like another two grand based on the package it was in. And that was with all that lane keep assist crap, that I "wont" have on my car so I didn't get it.

But if I could pay twenty or thirty bucks to have automatic high beams for a few months out of the year, I would love to be able to do that.

 

[sk]

Yeah, I'm just a tad bit pessimistic... feels like it quickly can end up with that you have to pay extra even for the basic stuff.

But sure, done right it's not that bad idea to be honest.
Pay a bit to activate GPS and maps for the day instead of that ridiculous amount it costs to have it installed only to be used once a year.

/SK

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Pay a bit to activate GPS and maps for the day instead of that ridiculous amount it costs to have it installed only to be used once a year.

I always get GPS and never use it. Always use the phone. But I like having it as a backup if I ever need it and phones dead or there's no signal. But yeah, it's ridiculous how much they charge just to load a software package.

 

[Professor Walsh]

I just found myself imagining car upgrade loot boxes.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I just found myself imagining car upgrade loot boxes.

Yes, you run over enough pedestrians and you earn extra bonuses.

 

[Professor Walsh]

Yes, you run over enough pedestrians and you earn extra bonuses.

See, that way you can earn those head beams.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

See, that way you can earn those head beams.

As long as they have the little light wipers on them to clear off the gore.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

What a wonderful world we live in where computer can assist (control) the cars we drive, especially when enough of them of the right kind can be hacked. Don't be surprised when your Global Positioning System (GPS) takes control of your car and directs/ steers you into the river.
I thought it great when cars introduced Power Assisted Steering.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Wasn’t that the plot of the last Fast & Furious movie? 😁

 

[ILLYRIAN]

And very accurate @Buffy Summers to this thread, as the ATMOS system was fitted to BMW cars.

You've gotta love them Mr. Potatomen, them Sontarans.

 

[white avenger]

Cars are more full of computers and software than ever before, which has made it possible for automakers to add new features or patch problems on the fly with over-the-air software updates.

Let's just hope that some stray electromagnetic pulse doesn't fry all these computers and send us all back to the stone age.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Don't worry about some stray electromagnetic pulse, the worlds gonna run out of decent fuel soon.

 

[white avenger]

Don't worry about some stray electromagnetic pulse, the worlds gonna run out of decent fuel soon.

Think about it. We ran out of "decent" fuel since we began. or at least stopped depending primarily on, fossil fuel, and as long as oil and coal are available, we won't even start seriously looking for any sort of substitute, and even then, "clean" will be a definite second, at the least, consideration.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

I can see a message on the nav screen on a BMW of the future:

YOU HAVE TAKEN THE CAR TO AN INDEPENDENT SERVICE SHOP. DON'T DENY IT, SOMEONE CLEARED THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT. THEREFORE WE WILL DISABLE THE STARTER BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 5 AM AND 9 AM EACH DAY UNTIL YOU RETURN TO THE STEALERSHIP DEALERSHIP TO HAVE FOUR HOURS OF PUNITIVE LABOUR DONE ON YOUR CAR AT OUR STRATOSPHERIC RATES.

I hate German cars with a passion because they are virtually unrepairable or at least require twice as much labour as any other car to fix and repairs are needed often.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

A benefit of working on the car yourself (subtle hint) is having a European car, it's the Asian cars that are designed to be worked on by midgets.

 

[nightshade]

A benefit of working on the car yourself (subtle hint) is having a European car, it's the Asian cars that are designed to be worked on by midgets.

Please don't refer to people as midgets.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

sorry about that nightshade, what should I refer to the car manufacturers as?
As a person of 6ft 3 most folk are height impaired.

 

[Buffy Summers]

I think there is a better way to express your point without making a derogatory comments about Asians.