Car manufacturers will have to generate income/profit from different streams now that the shift to EV is taking momentum.
The headline isnt the whole truth and this is not a new principle either. Audi, Nissan, VW, Tesla and others already do this - it just happened to grab the news recently. It started with connectivity but with the development of software driven functionality, over the air updates are a simple way of enabling functionality that can be built-in efficiently to be switched on for a similar fee as if you were speccing as a factory order.Even better for second owners for example whomwish they had traffic/navigation built in or heated seats for example.
The line gets crossed (for equipment not connectivity IMO) when you cant enable with a reasonable one off payment and have to pay every month for the duration of ownership.