VW in-car ads: safety questioned

In-car screen ads: driving as an advertising medium

A Volkswagen driver found himself with a full tank and yet the infotainment system offered him to refuel at a Repsol gas station. The ad, captured on video, appeared while driving and forces drivers to take their eyes off the road. The paradox is perfect: the car warns you about something you don't need while distracting you from the only thing that matters.

Who places the ad?

Initial reactions point in two directions. One holds that the ad is Volkswagen's fault, having turned the dashboard into an advertising medium. The other recalls that if the driver uses CarPlay, the advertising could come from the phone app and the car merely acts as a screen. The difference is not minor: one thing is that the manufacturer sells space to third parties, and quite another is that the phone's software filters ads within the car's ecosystem.

The subscription business

After the controversy, some suggest that the solution is to pay for a premium plan to remove advertising, as already happens on other platforms. The model is tempting for manufacturers: turning a basic car service into a source of recurring revenue. But applied to driving, with the risk of distraction, the idea clashes with road safety.

The question remains: to what extent will we accept ads in a space where attention is a matter of life and death? The case of a full tank being offered gasoline is just the beginning.