I was on the interstate when the dashboard screen flashed: [BRAKE CREDITS: 1. RECHARGE REQUIRED.] I froze. My scalp went cold. This had to be a joke. I was about to stab the "Recharge" button when a new menu popped up: [$99.99 – PLATINUM PACKAGE: 10,000 BRAKE CREDITS. (Instant Activation)] [$49.99 – GOLD PACKAGE: 5,000 BRAKE CREDITS. (Activation may take 24 hours)] Gritting my teeth, I selected the $99.99 package. The screen refreshed again. [Please watch the following 30-second advertisement to activate your purchase.] [To skip this ad, please purchase our AD-FREE VIP PASS!] 1. "Buy! Buy it! Authorize payment!" As I was yelling, a semi-truck pulled into my lane up ahead. My brake credits hadn't activated. I could only slam my foot off the accelerator, letting the car coast, trying to manage the gap. But another big rig was now tailgating me, its headlights flooding my cabin. My heart hammered against my ribs. Do I swerve into the fast lane? What if someone is coming up behind me? What if I get boxed in? I couldn't slow down. I was pinned between two 18-wheelers. Maybe the shoulder? At night, the shoulder is a death trap. The car's calm, cheerful AI voice chirped: [Please select your Ad-Free VIP Pass tier.] [Monthly: $28.88. That's less than a dollar a day!] [Annual: $168.88. That's less than fifty cents a day!] I was roaring, "Authorize! Pay! Just activate the brakes!" [I'm sorry, I cannot process your request until the current promotional message is complete. Please listen patiently.] I was on the verge of a panic attack. The truck behind me was getting closer. I slammed my hazards on and laid on the horn, hoping the driver behind me would get the message and pass. But that's not standard highway communication. The truck was just getting closer. I had to accelerate to avoid being crushed from behind, but the truck in front of me was a wall. If I sped up, I'd just plow right into it. Worse, in the second I hesitated, a sedan shot into the fast lane, its blinker on. If I changed lanes now, I'd be trapped, forced to match his speed. We'd all be dead. I remembered a few days ago, the dash had prompted me to pay for a "vehicle diagnostics report." I figured, it's an EV, what's to diagnose? I ignored it. I never imagined "diagnostics" included the number of times I could stop my own car. Is this even real? Does a car company get to charge for brakes? Did I pay seventy thousand dollars for a metal box where every basic function is a microtransaction? I kept scanning my mirrors. The sedan was closer. The truck was closer. Then, the truck behind me slowed and put its left turn signal on. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. He understood. I checked the dash. The AI was finally finishing its speech. [...Or get our Ad-Free SUPER-VIP Pass for only $588.88/year, which includes a free streaming subscription and bonus data!] "Buy the monthly pass! Authorize payment!" I was saved. My life was my own again. And then the screen froze. A loading icon spun for a few seconds. [Purchase page cannot be loaded using complimentary data. Please purchase a premium data package to complete your transaction.] [Would you like to open the Premium Data menu?] I... I had no words. "Open... open the premium data menu," I choked out. The calm voice returned, listing data plans. But as it was speaking, the traffic situation changed instantly. The truck in front of me slammed its brakes. The sedan in the fast lane cut behind me, also braking hard. The truck behind me flashed its high beams. What was happening? A crash? Debris on the road? I only had one stop left. 2. "There's a car on the shoulder!" My heart sank. My plan to just ditch the car on the shoulder was gone. Up ahead, a car had smashed into the guardrail and was now blocking the emergency lane. The fast lane was littered with pieces of a bumper. That's why everyone was slowing down. All three lanes were now a parking lot. My car was wedged between a wall of steel, with no way out. I was tapping the accelerator, just trying to maintain my position, terrified of rolling backward or forward. And the whole time, the AI was calmly listing data package options. I tried to just stab the screen, but the interior camera flashed. [Driver, please focus on the road for your safety!] I was going to have a stroke. "You worthless piece of crap!" I screamed. "You want me to focus? Give me my brakes! You want me to die with a clear view of what's about to kill me? IS THAT IT?" I'd been on the highway for an hour. I'd used my brakes maybe... five times? This wasn't a warning. This was an ambush. The car knew I was on the highway. It knew I'd be forced to buy the most expensive "instant" package. It was holding my life for ransom. Finally, we crept past the accident. The sedan and the truck behind me sped up and passed. I immediately swerved onto the shoulder and slammed my hazards on. I got out, put the reflective triangle 150 yards back, and got back in the car, shaking. Time to pay the ransom. The data package had the same logic. The expensive one was instant. The cheap one would activate in 24 hours. I paid $68 for the data. I paid $588 for the ad-free VIP. I paid $99.99 for the 10,000 brake credits. By the time I was done, I was exhausted. I'd just survived a hostage negotiation. I opened the dashcam footage. I was going to sue this company into the ground. But... if they could do this with my brakes, what could they do with my footage? I took out my phone and started recording the dashcam screen. Just as I expected, when I tried to export the file, a message popped up: [Dashcam footage is proprietary and cannot be exported.] It's my car. My footage. I tried again. My phone rang. An unknown number. "Hello, Mr. Evans? This is Aura Customer Support. We detected an attempt to export dashcam footage. Are you reporting an accident?" I didn't give them anything. "Yes." "Thank you, sir. An Aura engineer will be in contact with you shortly to assist in retrieving your footage." I agreed. I hung up and looked at the dashcam. The screen was now black. [Dashcam Malfunction. System error. Format to restart? (Y/N)] 3. I drove the rest of the way under the speed limit and got home. I never wanted to see this car again. "Sarah," I said to my wife, "we need to talk about getting a new car." She frowned. "What? You just got a promotion and you're already trying to spend it?" "That car is two years old, Mark. We'll lose so much on a trade-in." I looked at her. I didn't want to scare her. But she rides in this car. I lit a cigarette. "It's not safe. I almost died tonight. On the highway." Her eyes went wide. "What? But... they said it was the safest car on the market! It's an Aura! We paid seventy thousand dollars for it! We drove a ten-thousand-dollar Honda for a decade and never had a problem!" I told her everything. The brake credits. The ads. The data ransom. Her eyes filled with tears. She hugged me, hard. "We'll sell it," she whispered, her voice cracking. "We'll sell it tomorrow. You're the only thing that matters. If anything happened to you..." "We're selling it," I agreed. "But they're not getting away with this. They have to answer for it." The next morning, my phone rang. "Mr. Evans? This is Aura. You requested your dashcam footage?" "Yes," I said, my voice ice. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Evans, but we cannot provide that service. Downloading footage involves proprietary manufacturer protocols." "I need that footage for a lawsuit." "I'm very sorry," the rep said, in that same dead, monotone voice, "but we cannot provide that service. Is there anything else I can help you with today?" It was a human, but he was reading a script. Then, I'm pretty sure, he just toggled the AI. I hung up and drove to the dealership. I found the manager and told him the story. He nodded politely. "Sir, I am very sorry for your trouble. But our dealership is just sales and service. The software subscription model... that's not us. That's Aura corporate." "Wait," I said. "Hold on. When I bought this car, you sold it to me as an Aura. The Aura Infinity. Now that it's trying to kill me, you're telling me it's a Momentum Motors car?" "Sir," the manager said, his face a plastic mask, "your issue is with the software provider. You need to file a complaint with Aura." He turned to walk away. I lost it. "You're all still buying this crap?" I yelled at the other customers in the showroom. "They're selling you death traps! They sell it as an Aura, then blame Momentum when it fails! Is that how this works?" Two security guards grabbed me and started hauling me toward the door. The manager pulled out his phone. "Yes, police? There's a man here... he's trespassing and threatening my customers."
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