[RahulNagaraj]

An Audi Q4 e-tron owner recently shared a short video clip of how vehicles today are heavily software-based.



The owner of the EV decided not to purchase the optional tri-zone climate control feature, but still received the 'Sync' button for the same. Upon pressing the button, a notification popped up on the infotainment system indicating the function had not been purchased.



Historically, cars with unpurchased features came with a blank piece of plastic replacing the button. These plastic pieces merged with the interiors and didn't look out of place. However, while Audi's implementation with the dummy button serves the same purpose, the owner didn't expect a pop-up notification for the same.

Having said that, the notification on the infotainment system didn't contain any prompts to purchase the missing feature.

There isn't a clear reason as to why Audi has chosen to keep the buttons, irrespective of whether customers opt for them or not. Speculations suggest that it might just be a way to help bring down costs, or maybe there is a chance of Audi offering in-car purchases at a later stage.

Source: Reddit

Link to Team-BHP news

[speedmiester]

I am dreading the day these subscription services hits mainstream cars.
This is one aspect of EVs I hate, it is very easy to control features through OTA in EVs and I am sure many manufacturers will milk us for every penny with these subscription services.

[Bibendum90949]

By virtue of a software glitch, I hope a message doesn't pop up on one's screen which reads "This function has not been purchased" when you press the brake pedal at speeds.

[gopi_rm]

Before 2 years, I read a paper published by VAG group about the subscription services. According to the paper, they would like to offer comfort/convenience and driver assistance features as a lifetime package as well as subscription based package (e.g. only during holidays).
The Q4‘s cousin ID4 will soon receive SW update with version 3.0 in which they have implemented app store kind of thing to purchase available features and other services directly in the vehicle‘s infotainment system.

[SR-71]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

Speculations suggest that it might just be a way to help bring down costs, or maybe there is a chance of Audi offering in-car purchases at a later stage.

I believe there is merit to that thought. Having a simpler production line without having to worry about correct inventory sizing across variants or planning production lines as to what models role out when and by what volume etc., does make an impact on cost positively.

Lets take the recent case of Kodiaq in India for example. The L&K which is the most expensive variant was sold out almost immediately while the least expensive variant was still available for a few weeks after. Who would have imagined that? Skoda was able to get away with the skewed inventory due to the current demand in the market. Imagine if the same were a mass market product under normal circumstances. Skoda would be left with unsold volumes of particular variant and would eventually push it out at lower cost. On the contrary, rolling out a single piece of hardware but differentiating it by enabling/disabling features dynamically based on demand makes it easier on the manufacturer. A premium variant of Audi can easily become a premium plus or technology variant or vice versa with features enabled or disabled with simple software updates, before it leaves the factory. We do this all the time in enterprise software products. The home edition vs enterprise edition of a product are not birthed out of 2 different code base. Its just the same code controlled electronically by software licensing.

In some ways this might make sense for customers where they can purchase features on a later date and makes sense for manufacturers by the virtue of simple inventory planning. Plus they get to charge a bomb enabling the feature as a stand alone. Who knows in the future, electric cars might simply become a subscription model where you will be left with a large sized paper weight once your subscription expires and you fail to renew it. I see pros and cons to this approach.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

There isn't a clear reason as to why Audi has chosen to keep the buttons, irrespective of whether customers opt for them or not. Speculations suggest that it might just be a way to help bring down costs, or maybe there is a chance of Audi offering in-car purchases at a later stage.

That statement is ok for a general news site, but for Team bhp? We know better than that! We have entire threads dedicated to unlocking vestigial functions that Manufacturers leave into cars all the time - Mod Gannu's Thread on his polo by itself has probably 10 of them.

This practice is as old as the hills - For manufacturers, its cheaper to build a single part for all cars and then disable it somewhere in the ECU or controllers than have to build different hardware variants and then deal with the complexity and costs of maintaining inventories and BOM's of different variants. For example - Every indica built since 2007 has functional rear Fog lights with bulbs, wiring etc. Only the controllers are missing - which are present only in the top end DLX (and for a few years, the DLG) variant. Most cabbies hook them up to the rear brake light wires for a free upgrade to a quad brake light setup

[Black_Star]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

I am dreading the day these subscription services hits mainstream cars.
This is one aspect of EVs I hate, it is very easy to control features through OTA in EVs and I am sure many manufacturers will milk us for every penny with these subscription services.

Although in couple of years (and it is happening now with Tesla) we will probably see people or aftermarket companies hacking into these cars to unlock these said features and upgrades, making them more accessible.

There is a company called Ingenext that produces a device which allows Tesla owners to unlock Tesla's $2,000 Acceleration Boost feature for the Dual Motor version of the Model 3 for $1,000 and adds a couple of other features like Drift mode. But Tesla is also fighting back against these mods with OTA.

[GTO]

LOL! These luxury brands don't get it. People pay a premium for Audi, BMW & Mercedes for a "premium" luxury experience. Imagine checking into the Taj Hotel, walking into the bathroom for a shower and a prompt comes up saying "50 bucks extra for hot water". How stupid.

This won't fly in the luxury segments, at least not for such features. BMW tried charging an annual fee for Apple CarPlay, but smartly reversed the decision before it was too late.

Maybe for something high-end like autonomous driving or a concierge service? I think the OEMs could get away with subscription fees. But end of the day, they have to realise their business is different from Netflix or Office 365.

[ariendj]

I don't think it is not about understanding the customer but greed and trying to squeeze out the maximum profit out of each car. And as much as I don't like this, I believe that the subscription model is the future, be it for the car as a whole or a feature like this.
Subscription to services is the biggest revenues to many big companies. Many phone manufacturers do this and in a world where the newer generation is less inclined to buy an automobile, doing an 'a la carte' subscription is the way forward.

On a side note, these car manufacturers should try to avoid a physical button for these optional upgrade options. Tesla has similar optional packages but its all imbedded in the screen software.

[mac187]

Better to buy purely mechanical cars and put them in storage. When these kind of nonsense become mainstream, dust off the cars and enjoy. Added bonus is vintage value and sticking it to the man. If (I hope) this doesn't become main stream, the cars will still be worth a good penny. No loss, I reckon.

I dread the day I will be forced to buy a car like this.

[manson]

Clearly this was approved only by the engineering team. Had this gone through a sales team it would have mostly read on the lines of 'click here to add this super convenient 3 zone air conditioning control for just 249 euros'

[careind]

I think that is actually a better marketing technique than having blank buttons. It touches one’s ego.
In that segment if one finds oneself seeing that message a few times, one would be more inclined to opt for it to assuage one’s ego. It is not as if one is too poor to afford it.
And of course, there is that thing on standardisation which means I don’t need to spend extra time adding/blanking buttons and features.
I think this could also create an interesting brand new industry for aftermarket car hackers.

[electro-monk]

So Audi wants to embarrass its owners in front of relatives. This popup is designed to spite, it might as well say -

Car price norwithstanding, some stuffs are still too rich for you!

There's a saying in hindi :
"Haathi nikal gya magar pooch reh gya"
(Elephant could squeeze through a hole but its tail got stuck)
Here this translates to :
You could afford this car, but chose not to buy this feature .

[pd1108]

Don't worry folks, with great software implementation, comes great hackers as well. Very soon you will also find roadside new-age mechanics with a laptop who would know how to activate services. Heh Heh

[mayukh42]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

maybe there is a chance of Audi offering in-car purchases at a later stage

Reminds me of the in-game micro-transactions that plague the video game industry. Perhaps some product manager from EA joined Audi

Originally Posted by Bibendum90949

By virtue of a software glitch...

Micro-transactions are designed to troll the user, so in most cases it will not be a "glitch" but a feature.

"Maximum Speed allowed in vanilla version is 60 kmph. To drive at a higher speed, subscribe to our special Highway package at only Rs. 2000 per month"