BMW Will Continue To Charge For Driving Assists And Is Not Abandoning Subscription Equipment

Although it did not make a name for itself by introducing a subscription to certain equipment, BMW will not give up on it.

BMW has publicly acknowledged what customers have been saying since day one—charging for heated seats via a monthly subscription was the wrong move. But this does not mean that the German manufacturer is giving up on subscriptions in cars. On the contrary, it is only now seriously entering that business model, but with different functions.

Heated seats and a heated steering wheel, which were available for a monthly fee in 2022, drew a wave of criticism. The system was withdrawn already, a year later. However, BMW now openly says that the problem was not in the subscription idea itself, but in the choice of function.

Head of Product Communications at BMW, Alexandra Landers, admitted that it was charging for heated seats that caused the most resistance from customers.

“We got the most criticism for the heated seats, so it probably wasn’t the best way to start with it,” she told Australian media, including Drive.

But she pointed out that BMW still believes in the subscription model, especially for advanced technologies that have real usage costs.

“All the technology is built into the vehicle, but we have operating costs for additional systems. There’s cloud usage, and that costs money. If a function is used, we have to pay for it,” explained Landers.

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The latest example of that approach is the new BMW iX3 electric SUV. It will offer a subscription to use the 360-degree camera as well as the advanced driver assistance package, Driving Assistant Pro. That package includes assisted lane changes, hands-free highway driving, and semi-autonomous functions in city conditions, similar to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Supervised system.

Customers can order these systems at the time of vehicle purchase, but BMW will install the necessary hardware in every car produced, regardless of the selected options. This means that features will be able to be unlocked later in the software, for an additional fee.

BMW says that many customers initially think that they do not need such systems. But once they find themselves in a situation, say in a big traffic jam, they may regret not taking them. The idea is that then, even years after the purchase, they can simply activate the desired function via the Internet.

BMW still maintains the practice of installing certain hardware in a vehicle but leaving it locked if the customer hasn’t paid for the option upfront.

An example is the adaptive suspension on certain models. The system is technically already built in but can be activated later with a monthly subscription of $29 after a one-month free trial period.

Some other features that BMW offers through subscriptions are real-time traffic information. For the manufacturer, this means real data transfer costs, which is one of the arguments for charging for such services.

One thing, however, is now clear. Heated seats will no longer be a symbol of overcharging, but the idea that part of the equipment in the car can only be unlocked with an additional monthly fee remains very current.

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