Software-defined cars offer benefits that older cars cannot compete with. The auto industry said this with a straight face. They built cars that need updates to run. Cars that might brick themselves when the servers shut down. Cars that depreciate faster than your trading account.
Analysts worry the vehicles might not last. They used the word "might" because nobody knows. The manufacturers don't know. The engineers don't know. The dealers selling you the extended warranty definitely don't know. But they sold you the car anyway.
Here's what we do know. Your 1995 Honda runs on gasoline and spite. It starts every morning. It doesn't care if the manufacturer goes bankrupt. It doesn't need an over-the-air update to remember how to turn left. Software-defined cars need all of these things. They also need you to agree to a terms of service update while you're trying to leave for work.
The benefits are incredible though. Your car can receive updates. It can download new features. It can stop working entirely when the company decides your model year is no longer profitable to support. That's not a bug. That's recurring revenue.
Some customers say older cars cannot compete. These are the same people who bought Peloton bikes and now use them as coat racks. They confused a software subscription with transportation. They financed it for seven years.
The auto industry doesn't know how long these cars will last because planned obsolescence is easier when you can blame it on legacy software architecture. Your car doesn't break down anymore. It reaches end-of-life. Much more dignified. Sounds better in the press release when you're explaining why a three-year-old vehicle is now a $40,000 paperweight.
But at least it had over-the-air updates.
Photo by Michael Satterfield on Unsplash
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