Tesla will charge customers $10 per month for its premium tier of in-car connectivity.
As of January 2020, according to Business Insider (BI), electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Tesla revealed it will charge customers $10 per month for its premium tier of in-car connectivity.
This $10 monthly fee only applies to vehicles ordered after June 2018 and allows Tesla’s cars to access features like media streaming, satellite maps, and an internet browser.
Tesla’s move, according to BI, to charge drivers for in-vehicle connectivity is likely due to the mounting cost of connecting a growing fleet. Currently, connected cars can generate around 25 GB of data every hour, but that number could jump to 5 TB of data per car every hour when autonomous cars hit the road. One way that automakers can cover their data processing and connectivity costs while also driving up revenue is by monetizing the data, such as by selling information to vendors or insurance companies. Monetizing vehicle data presents a large opportunity for automakers, as it could generate up to $450 billion to $750 billion globally by 2030.
