Source: The Verge / YouTube (Alibaba)
Last week we told you about the very real restrictions that Chinese citizens with low social credit scores face. Anybody who has a low social credit score, which comes from social and financial behavior faces travel restrictions that’ll last for up to a year. This week we’re bringing you the flip side of this dystopian nightmare. The perks of having a high social credit score.
As we head into a fully automated future, the idea of arbitrary responses from virtual machines seems all the more terrifying if you have a low social credit score. The flip side is that a positive score, like 700 points, could get you access all sorts of goodies. 700 is 150 more points than you start out with before you’ve made any transactions that affect your social credit score. One such example, in Guangzhou, is a cat-themed vending machine that spits out Fords for free test drives.
The vending machine is the result of a partnership between online retailing giant Alibaba and American car manufacturer Ford. All Alibaba customers need to do is select the model of car they want to test drive on their Tmall app, snap a selfie of themselves, and then turn up at the selected time. They’ll get a 3-day test drive for free, citizens with lower scores will have to pay, and they’ll even be able to then buy the car directly through the app.
