Carmaker Volkswagen is planning to include all features in all their cars, but use connected vehicle technology to charge drivers for the ones they use.
Top Gear magazine has spoken to the German company which says it plans to have cars “crammed full of tech and features” which the user can turn on and off as and when they need them, but only pay when they’re using them.
The report says VW’s sales and marketing boss Klaus Zellmer sees this ability as the future for changing how you spec a brand-new car. Instead of ticking boxes of options (and VW having to tailor each car to spec in the factory, increasing costs) “all VWs will be built with all the toys, and then you’ll simply lease them when they make sense”.
“Over the air allows access to a car’s operating system. The interesting aspect is functions on demand,” Klaus told Top Gear. “If you happen to buy a car and weren’t convinced you needed an autonomous drive mode at the time, but then you decide you’d love to have it, we can switch it on, but we can then switch it off if the next owner of the car decides they don’t need it.
“Going forward, we see the future as accessing mobility when you need it, not committing to owning one car for several years.”
(Picture – Transport Technology Forum)
