Honestly it's not really anything different than them selling the "special performance tune"
It's a huge difference. ECU tunes are mostly an aftermarket thing, with the dealer almost never involved (and the tune typically voids at least part of your warranty).
Tunes make power through a variety of means, but generally involve the tuner putting the car on a dyno and/or track to figure out how far the car can be pushed with different combinations of bolt-on parts, while leaving a conservative margin for variation between cars that will use the tune off-the-shelf.
What makes this different is that it's an electric car, and that the seller of the tune is Mercedes themselves. They designed in the extra power from the start, then locked it behind a paywall. This completely inverts the situation: instead of an aftermarket tune cleverly capturing extra power, Mercedes is charging you extra to use power your car had from the factory.
BMW's particular tuning arrangement is more of a support agreement with Dinan.
Dinan develops the modification as an aftermarket "accessory," and BMW agrees to support their parameters, allowing people to undergo the modification while maintaining full warranty coverage.
Just like if I cranked the boost controller on a new turbo gas BMW.
I agree on this aspect of it. If you look at it as a warranty issue, it's not that offensive. However, if they are locking you out of doing your own modifications while selling this it starts to get evil.
I'm actually surprised more people haven't tried to 'tune' the current electric cars this way. Cooking batteries, controllers, motor windings etc.
They’re playing the long game. They know that one day, a couple decades from now, they will have many customers who never knew a world without subscription-based car features. This is exactly what happened with DLC in video games.
At some point, they are going to claim that you didnt get sold a car. Only a license to use the car and any patching/modifying software is against the license.
At best DLC in video games is an expansion without the CD.
I'm not really upset that other models have developed in the face of technology that makes it massively easy to package updates. Ensuring you get value out of it is up to the buyer.
This is why they'll go after small shops specializing in after market mods. To prevent mechanics from fixing this for people who don't have the skill to bypass this themselves. I can't believe I'm unironically talking about jail-breaking a car to get the most out of it, but that's just how clown world goes.
Start engine, welcome! Please enter destination... Want to watch an ad to unlock acceleration boost and better GPS navigation? Guarantee to arrive 15% faster or we'll refund you 25 Mercedes-gemz
Or a couple of hours, depending on how it's programmed.
It's a huge difference. ECU tunes are mostly an aftermarket thing, with the dealer almost never involved (and the tune typically voids at least part of your warranty).
Tunes make power through a variety of means, but generally involve the tuner putting the car on a dyno and/or track to figure out how far the car can be pushed with different combinations of bolt-on parts, while leaving a conservative margin for variation between cars that will use the tune off-the-shelf.
What makes this different is that it's an electric car, and that the seller of the tune is Mercedes themselves. They designed in the extra power from the start, then locked it behind a paywall. This completely inverts the situation: instead of an aftermarket tune cleverly capturing extra power, Mercedes is charging you extra to use power your car had from the factory.
BMW's particular tuning arrangement is more of a support agreement with Dinan.
Dinan develops the modification as an aftermarket "accessory," and BMW agrees to support their parameters, allowing people to undergo the modification while maintaining full warranty coverage.
I agree on this aspect of it. If you look at it as a warranty issue, it's not that offensive. However, if they are locking you out of doing your own modifications while selling this it starts to get evil.
They haven't?
So Season Passes for cars now? Worst part is people will pay for this shit.
They’re playing the long game. They know that one day, a couple decades from now, they will have many customers who never knew a world without subscription-based car features. This is exactly what happened with DLC in video games.
Part of the "own nothing" plan, you will rent your car piece by piece until it is a 100% rented/subscription service
At some point, they are going to claim that you didnt get sold a car. Only a license to use the car and any patching/modifying software is against the license.
At best DLC in video games is an expansion without the CD.
I'm not really upset that other models have developed in the face of technology that makes it massively easy to package updates. Ensuring you get value out of it is up to the buyer.
You will own nothing and be happy (but keep paying us for the privilege of what we allow you to rent).
People willing do this through leasing their cars instead of owning outright. It’ll become the only option in the next few years.
How long will it take to jailbreak it?
You wouldn't
downloadjailbreak a car.It's going to get interesting when you start seeing monkey patches for various car model software pop up to modify goofy nonsense like this.
Overclock your car, call it the Michael Hastings special
This is why they'll go after small shops specializing in after market mods. To prevent mechanics from fixing this for people who don't have the skill to bypass this themselves. I can't believe I'm unironically talking about jail-breaking a car to get the most out of it, but that's just how clown world goes.
...which is why the right to repair is so important.
Start engine, welcome! Please enter destination... Want to watch an ad to unlock acceleration boost and better GPS navigation? Guarantee to arrive 15% faster or we'll refund you 25 Mercedes-gemz