Barring any aftermarket accessories, the car you bought a long time ago has the same features today as it did when it rolled off the assembly line. For all intents and purposes, everything about your car, from the powertrain to the infotainment system, is the same as the day you drove it. You don’t have to pay extra for whatever features you use and enjoy the most.
But that’s changing in the broader auto industry, as features that were once included in the price of a car increasingly paid. This change in the automotive industry is known as software-defined vehicle, or SDV for short.
An SDV is a car where updatable software rather than fixed hardware defines what the car can do. While SDV capability can unlock interesting, useful, and even fun features inside a vehicle, it’s ultimately an opportunity for automakers to generate a recurring revenue stream from their customer base.
2026 Industry report from IoT Analytics found that 45% of car manufacturers and suppliers are now ranked Transition to SDVs both the development of electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles are their main strategic priorities in the face of advanced driver assistance systems.
Why do automakers love the subscription model?
The average car on the road is older than ever
Under the traditional model, once a car leaves the showroom with a new owner, the automaker’s opportunity to make additional money from that sale is greatly reduced. There is an opportunity to earn follow-up income through dealers regular maintenance and serviceNot so easy for OEM.
At this point, automakers are waiting for the same customer to come back for another car, but that’s taking longer than the manufacturers would like. According to the latest information S&P Global Mobility dataAverage age of vehicles on US roads It increased to 12.8 yearsthe oldest ever recorded.
Individually, the average age of passenger cars is now 14.5 years, and the average age of light trucks is 11.9 years. In other words, the typical American car on the road today was built during the Obama administration.
Meanwhile, vehicle manufacturers still incur fixed costs associated with building the cars they sell. Everything from factories and tooling to engineering, research and development, and marketing is covered by a single hardware operation that happens less and less often.
However, with SDV, automakers can equip a vehicle on the assembly line for certain features, then use software to turn it on or off when the customer decides to pay for it. Something as mundane as faster acceleration settings, off-road-focused powertrain swaps, driver assistance systems or heated seats. All these items are already in the car. All included in the price of the car. Until now.
If the average consumer won’t buy another car for about 13 years, waiting for the next sale is not a long-term business model for automakers. Recurring program revenue, whether monthly or yearly, allows the automaker to benefit financially over the entire ownership period. In essence, automakers will operate like any other business operating on a subscription model.
Which features already require a subscription?
Regardless of the brand, hands-free driving has additional costs
General Motors offers one of the most obvious examples with Super Cruise, its silent highway driving system. Super Cruise takes over steering, acceleration and braking on appropriate highways, relying on LiDAR map data, real-time GPS, cameras and radar sensors to keep the car centered in its lane. The system currently operates on more than 750,000 miles of eligible highways in the United States and Canada and is available on select Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC and Buick models.
Super Cruise comes free for three years on eligible vehicles, after which drivers must purchase a plan to keep it active. GM currently prices a standalone Super Cruise add-on for just $25 a month, but the feature has become a money maker for the automaker. GM expects to surpass 850,000 paid Super Cruise subscriptions by the end of 2026. reaches about 400 million dollars during the year.
Like GM, Ford has its own version of a silent car control system. It controls steering, braking and acceleration on pre-set sections of divided highways called BlueCruise. silent Blue ZonesIt accounts for more than 130,000 miles of North American roads, accounting for approximately 97% of controlled access highways in the United States and Canada.
BlueCruise is currently available on the Explorer, Expedition, F-150 and Mustang Mach-E. New car subscriptions come with a 90-day free trial, after which owners can pay $495 a year or $2,495 for a seven-year subscription. A monthly plan is also available for $49.99.
Mercedes-Benz for sale Acceleration increase Upgrade for EQE and EQS electric models. The upgrade boosts output to 80 horsepower and boosts acceleration from zero to 60 mph by a full second via an over-the-air upgrade, not any new hardware. Mercedes prices the upgrade at $600 per year on the EQE and $900 per year on the EQS, with a one-time lifetime purchase also available.
Meanwhile, Toyota offers two ways to start the car remotely. One of them works through the Toyota app and allows the owner to start the car from anywhere. Another is a standard key fob remote start that starts the engine from a short distance by pressing the lock button twice and holding it a third time.
On models from 2018 to 2022, both methods require an active subscription, although the fob method uses a short-range signal and does not need its own data connection. The subscription fee is $8 per month or $80 per year.
Toyota’s newer infotainment system is standard on most 2026 models Remote Connect packages starting at $15 per month. At Toyota owner forumscommunity consensus is largely negative against the subscription model, with most recommending against upgrading to anything other than Remote Connect, and only if you need to regularly start your car from longer distances.
Questions to ask before your next test drive
With more features tied to a subscription instead of a one-time purchase, it helps to ask a few clarifying questions the next time you’re looking for a new car. Ask which features directly include those that require a subscription. For the latter, ask how long the trial period is and how much it costs after it expires.
Ask these technical questions along with all the standard questions you should ask when looking for a new car, including what the “out-of-the-door” price is, how long the factory warranty lasts, and whether there are any additional discounts.
