BMW has overhauled their digital systems in the top of the range vehicles including, new sat-nav, digital assistant and on board microtransactions.
As we know cars are filled with technology, allowing carmakers to add over the air upgrades to the software.
This can be a good thing, however it is worth remembering what happened when Security flaws found in best selling cars.
Now the tech for on-board transactions was actually pioneered by Tesla, releasing vehicles with restricted range, the owner could then un-restrict this by paying a small fee.
However, BMW plans to take this to the next level, with a range of restricted functions coming as standard in the cars like, heated seats, automatic high beams or adaptive cruise control.
The way BMW will use the system is different, offering limited time purchases, like renting a film from Blockbuster, but you are renting a warm bottom for your journey home.
There may also be a subscription-based model so you could rent adaptive lights for the winter, when you are expecting to be driving in the dark home from work, with a three-month rental.
This may seem like a strange model as surely it will cost BMW more to put all of the features in all of their cars, however thinking about the second-hand market it makes sense.
They will continue earning money from the vehicle owner even when he sells the vehicle, which is not always the case if people decide to take it to another garage.
It will also allow that second driver to configure the vehicle to their choosing, rather than having to fork out for the features they want in the first instance.
This feature isn’t just for BMW’s as you know we have already mentioned Tesla, and interesting Ford have started discussing doing this on their future vehicles.
