It won’t happen. You might end up with a “basic” model which, for them, is a zero profit vehicle - possibly even sold at a slight loss. But everything will be installed and cryptographically keyed to your car (like Apple dies with their screens and cameras, “for security”). All the waste will be baked into the car- extra materials you can’t sell, extra weight that reduces efficiency, extra expense should something break or be damaged.
You’ll get a car with a 100kWh battery, ABS, Traction control 4 wheel drive, autopilot (actually it will be 4 levels of cruise control), auto braking, cameras, side air bags, heated and cooled seats, mini fridge, swivel chairs, ac, heat, heads up display, 24” touch screen, battery heaters, dual charging, home-power, solar charging, regenerative braking, the works. You’ll have single, slow charging, 20kWk, no regen braking and no amenities except the minimum required by law in your are (ie backup cam but not front or side, driver/pass airbags but no side) But just adding ac, heat, and terrestrial radio (controlled using a 7” area of the 24” screen) will be 100% profit and only accessible by monthly subscription. And when you sell the car, it will have zero fuctions and require new payments.
I’m calling out car makers, but tech is front and center. Why not sell one, sealed Xbox with a 2TB drive, but charge a monthly fee to unlock all but 500GB. Or 10Gbit wired and 6EWi-Fi, but throttled to 100mb. . Or limited to 2.4G, with 5G being $2.99 and 6G channels bring $3.99. 1GB hardwire is $2.99, 10G is $3.99. For 5.99/mo you can unlock their MaxNet service with 10G and 6E Wi-Fi.
Oculus might sell one SKU of headset with 512GB storage, but 256/512 are $50/100 price tiers. Apple might do the same on phones and iPads.
Laptops might go to soldered ram, discrete gpu, SSD and get you to pay once or monthly for activation of anything more than the minimum. Batteries migh be the same. Or even a 4K screen that is limited to 1080p without a paid unlock.
OptimusPrimeDownfall@discuss.tchncs.de 10 months ago
Backup cameras, at least in the US, are a legally mandated feature. Cars cannot come without them.
If anyone ever tries to sell you a car based on ‘it has a backup camera!’, be very skeptical of what else they’re trying to upsell you on that’s legally required.