Connected cars come with a whole bunch of new services!

In the summer of 2022, BMW announced through its ConnectedDrive program a new range of on-demand services. The principle is as follows, it is a matter of taking out a subscription or paying for a package to unlock already existing features of the vehicle. No passage to the garage is required, a ‘software‘ update takes care of unlocking the paid options.

In several countries, including France, BMW offers for example an option of heated seats adjustable on three levels individually. Three subscription plans are available:

• 1 month: 20 euros
• 1 year: 180 euros
• 3 years: 280 euros

@BMW

The public welcomed this announcement in a rather negative way. Consumers resent being deprived of features on their vehicle, not because of hardware limitations, but as a result of intentional software blocking by the brand. Beyond this controversy, the implementation of connected services by the automotive giants has only just begun!

In terms of software, Tesla is well ahead of its competitors, having developed its own operating system (OS) capable of centralizing control, all vehicle functionalities including driver identification and associated services.

Based on this technological superiority, Tesla launched its own UBI insurance (user based insurance) a year ago, based on all the vehicle sensors. Its insurance product is currently available in 8 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, Texas and Virginia.

This functionality consists of two main components:

1. First, a fully smartphone-based user experience (UX). Through the mobile app, Tesla owners can easily enroll in the insurance program. They can access their vehicle’s technical follow-up, relevant documents, check their driving data and safety score, file a claim, schedule a repair or request 24/7 assistance.

   On this point, Tesla aims to carry out accident-related repairs on the same day of the collision, using its internal claims management unit. Thus, the customer experience is improved and Tesla can better understand the reasons and the cost of incidents and thus better design its future models.

2. Second, Tesla has developed a Safety Score to reward safe drivers. Using driving data generated and collected by the vehicle, Tesla calculates a safety score that is directly tied to its drivers’ monthly insurance premium. The higher the Safety Score, the greater the savings. There are currently different parameters, or safety factors, that influence a driver’s safety score such as:

   – Sudden braking
   -Aggressive cornering
   -Dangerous Tracking
   -Forced autopilot disengagements (the number of times the autopilot is disabled due to ignored alerts) …

@Tesla

Still in the USA, Ford and General Motors are also embarking on UBI through the release of their new connected vehicles.

In France, Apps such as Codenekt and Odopass offer to graft all the history of your vehicle on the Blockchain in order to authenticate your vehicle and thus facilitate its monitoring in the second-hand market.

@Odopass

The manufacturer Alpha Romeo integrates this follow-up which with its new

Alfa Romeo’s latest SUV, the ‘Tonale’, will be the first vehicle to be sold with a digital certificate in the form of an NFT (‘smart contract’). This certificate will be used to ensure that the car has benefited from the maintenance of the manufacturer owned by Stellantis. Buyers of each vehicle will have a unique NFT associated with their car. This NFT will be dynamic throughout the life of the vehicle, i.e. each maintenance at the dealership can be recorded there. It is therefore the vehicle’s maintenance log that will be dematerialized in the blockchain via this NFT.

When the vehicle is sold on the second-hand market, this NFT will be transmitted to the new buyer with the vehicle. And this is where everything will change because the brand can be informed of this sale and activate dedicated communication via the NFT smart contract.

This initiative, beyond bringing transparency, traceability and trust, will potentially generate a new dimension of customer relations. A long-term relationship that will be based on the life of the products. Brands will then be able to communicate, offer services, push content, access the owners of products purchased second-hand for thanks to the deployment of NFTs.

Of course, the more the vehicle is connected, the more the services will be numerous and certified!