913
BMW Adaptive Suspension Can Be Added via Subscription. Suspension As A Service (SAAS)
(www.bmwblog.com)
Software as a Suspension.
this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
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Technology
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Thanks, I gladly stick with my old non-BMW car!
So, you buy a car with all these features, but you don't pay for them. They are disabled by default. You jailbreak your car, everything works without paying extra, but then you realize, you broke your warranty.
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There are basic rules for coming up with these types of product subscriptions:
- Is it something a large number of customers can't live without?
- Is it something that costs money to support and continue developing? Subscriptions help defray that cost and loyal users are happy to keep it going.
- Will the feature be actively used on a regular basis, going forward?
Now apply these to seat warmers, suspension adjustments, self-driving, or whatever else shows up in the future. If you don't hit all three, head back to the drawing board.
P.S.: This isn't limited to cars. It's equally true for any hardware product.
So you purchase ordinary suspension but get active suspension that works exactly like ordinary suspension and cost like active suspension to service....
It's time we get legislation that gives the consumer access to all encryption key pairs used in the product they purchased.
(For you who don't know what encryption key pairs are used for: they are used for the software to know that a change order, like "activate suspension", is legit and therefore will be executed.)
No, we need to legislate that you should be able to use the hardware features that come with your vehicle without a subscription. What will the average consumer do with encryption keys? Even then, you'd need to decrypt and rewrite the ECU or other system that controls this hardware to run your own version, and if that doesn't work, you'd need to have hardware to manually intercept communications between the suspension and the system verifying your subscription, and intercept the signal to always send an ok signal.
The hardware has full functionality from day one. The limitation is in what software you are using.
Active suspension is not a hardware feature, it's software collecting data from sensors and by analysing the data being able adjusting the suspension to "optimal performance". Just because certain hardware can be controlled by software doesn't mean that you will get whatever software features you like to have.
BMW would claim that "BMW Smooth Comfortable Cloud Ride Software" is included free of charge with the purchase of a BMW.
BMW would also claim that they offer "BMW Hyper Advanced AI Premium Sensation Masculine Active Road Experience Pro Suspension" as an optional subscription for alpha males and people with too much money in their pockets.
The outcome of what you are suggesting will be a slight change in the phrasing of the product offering at the most.
With access to the keys, the owner can subscribe to the BMW solution, unlock the features in breach of the agreement with BMW by not subscribing or get a software solution for the car from another provider.
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You know it's just a matter of time before this shit starts being applied to budget cars.
...I really hope the tech crowd is working on jailbreaking this garbage.
That would be the ultimate way to stop this. Let them put the hardware in, and then not make a cent off it, because a third party enables it for the customer.
We try. We also pivot to open source to try and regain control because it's the only way. We even share our passions with those who ask.
You folks just roll your eyes and put more money on their hands.
This "tech crowd" and "you folks" dichotomy is not helpful at all. Tell people how they can help, volunteer, donate etc, don't wedge gaps between the same class fighting against the same ruling class. I'm a software engineer. I write open source software. I get that it's tiring and you can see the worst in people when doing it, but we're going to have to be better than that if we want to change things.
And for those reading like the top commenter, don't sit on your hands and wait for "tech folks" to figure stuff out. It's us vs. corporate greed, not "us hoping the tech folks save us from corporate greed" or "us tech folks being badgered like we should be some saviors against corporate greed." Write your representatives to tell them this isn't ok. Be mindful in your selection when you purchase a vehicle. Ask your tech savvy friends and family what you can do to help. You aren't helpless in this, and as OP said, just sitting and waiting for something to be fixed or changed doesn't help the overall goal.
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Haha.. connection to server cannot be established. Suspension resetting to default.
This is extra hilarious in the face of the crib manufacturer that just decided to subscription paywall basic functions of their crib.. or the slow cooker... And that's just this week.
Game manufacturers pulling the plug on games they sold removing the servers yanking the games.
And now people think that you can buy a product that is going to last longer and costs several orders of magnitude more.. and you can only hope that the manufacturer can be bothered to:
- Keep the service safe and secure.
- Have it be reliable.
- Maintain it operational for the actual lifespan of the car (not some MBA's definition of economic lifespan or something).
- Not fuck with you on the price. (We're not shutting down the servers, but the price will be 50 a month and 5 euros per adjustment).
But the sale case is easy.. lease car drivers. This way they can enjoy premium functions not incorporated into the sale price of the car. I hope the IRS that taxes these things sees through this ploy and taxes the vehicles for installed functions wether you pay for them or not. Saw this happen with Tesla's.. taxed based on their initial price.. and then the user added 15k of functions after a day.. and the tax was still based on the original sticker price.
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If once you do not succeed, just try again next year. They tried and backtracked putting heated seats behind a paywall not even a year ago see here.
Unless laws are made to make this fundamentally illegal, they'll just keep pushing until it sticks. And once one manufacturer succeeds, they'll all follow.
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“We’re pivoting from serving peasants to fleecing rich dumbasses that subscribe and pay monthly fees for features built into the car.”
And they’ll make money doing it. Because there will never be a shortage of people with more money than sense.
eh, rich people car shop as well, and there is plenty of competition in that market. of course some people will still opt for BMW, we just have to hope enough go elsewhere to make them lose marketshare. but... it's not looking good so far.
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Next up, Anti-lock brakes as a Subscription Service. ASS.
Oh look, another reason not to buy BMW, I'll just add it to the other 456788656752 reasons.
The problem is that once one manufacturer starts doing this, they'll all do it, so you won't even have the option of buying a new car without a subscription.
I'd sooner hack the car
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