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Short abstract:

We examine how subscriptions turn cars into rent-generating technological assets. We study the sociotechnical conditions enabling this shift and trace its impacts on the automotive industry, entrenching powerful interests and eroding the public good.

Long abstract:

In July 2022, BMW announced subscriptions for their heated car seats, causing an uproar among car enthusiasts. The idea that individuals would have to subscribe to features installed on vehicles they already own or have been making payments on seemed to undermine the freedom and autonomy classically associated with automobility (Miller 2001; Seiler 2008). On the other hand, industry analysts had long anticipated the integration of subscription payments in light-duty consumer vehicles (Berk 2021). In fact, nearly every automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is gearing up for, or already implementing, subscriptions for built-in functionalities.

The monetization of onboard vehicle features follows a pattern of technological enclosure and “assetization” observed across sectors (Bernevega and Gekker 2021; Birch and Muniesa 2020; Langley 2020). This paper, currently in revision at Engaging Science, Technology and Society, examines subscriptions as a mechanism for transforming consumer-owned vehicles into technological assets that generate rents for automakers. Our concern is the contingencies of how and under what circumstances this assetization is unfolding. First, we analyze the sociotechnical and political-economic conditions that automakers are exploiting to transform consumer vehicles into rent-generating assets. These include governmental mandates for electric vehicles (EVs) and efforts to capitalize on advances in autonomous vehicle (AV) technology. Second, we argue that while the automotive industry has explored assetization in the past, the paywalling of pre-installed functionalities is a distinct phenomenon likely to affect the wider ecology of automobility in ways that further entrench powerful and moneyed interests while undermining consumer welfare and the public good.