The president ordered an investigation into auto technology that could track U.S. drivers, part of a broader effort to stop E.V. and other smart-car imports from China.
It seems like the “cars tracking you” problem is a very real and very serious thing that should obviously be legislated separately of electric vehicles or country of manufacture.
I got a Mazda recently, and I was reading all the ownership paperwork, and the guy asked me what I was looking for. I said “I’m looking for the language about what data Mazda is collecting about me.” And the guy laughed and said there’s nothing in the paperwork about that. They just do it. You can’t shut it off.
Car manufacturers are. They probably get a bulk discount on relatively cheap data plans. It was enough for GM to keep OnStar running until Verizon got rid of supporting all 2G and 3G service in the USA.
No, but the Wikipedia article seems to indicate that OnStar has the ability to store GPS and phone contact information even if you aren’t subscribed.
Also, I can’t imagine that buying several millions of data connections would be that expensive, especially if all that those connections are doing are sending out a ping of reports once a month.
It seems like the “cars tracking you” problem is a very real and very serious thing that should obviously be legislated separately of electric vehicles or country of manufacture.
I got a Mazda recently, and I was reading all the ownership paperwork, and the guy asked me what I was looking for. I said “I’m looking for the language about what data Mazda is collecting about me.” And the guy laughed and said there’s nothing in the paperwork about that. They just do it. You can’t shut it off.
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Car manufacturers are. They probably get a bulk discount on relatively cheap data plans. It was enough for GM to keep OnStar running until Verizon got rid of supporting all 2G and 3G service in the USA.
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No, but the Wikipedia article seems to indicate that OnStar has the ability to store GPS and phone contact information even if you aren’t subscribed.
Also, I can’t imagine that buying several millions of data connections would be that expensive, especially if all that those connections are doing are sending out a ping of reports once a month.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnStar
Amazon did a thing where if your wifi is down Alexa can connect to a neighbors Alexa which will relay the message to the server.
I imagine a car could do the same much easier, you pull up to the lights next to a car from the same manufacturer and it relays all your telemetrics.
It’s time for an open source car.
In my Opel that’s a single USB connection to the data modem. Unfortunately, with that you’d also lose automatic emergency call.
Opel?? Opel still exists??
So now I’m wondering what happens with new (or connected used) cars sold in California. Does CCPA have any teeth here?