I’m really confused. Why are consumers concerned about this privacy when all the same behavior is occurring on smart phones which everyone now carries everywhere?
Every Lemmy car post is about people ripping out wires and fuses to avoid OTA connectivity, but those same people send the same data on their phones.
The difference for me is control. On a phone you get per-app permissions, you can switch location off, and you can leave it at home. The car’s telematics modem is always on, there’s no permission screen for it, and you usually can’t opt out without losing features you paid for.
It’s also not hypothetical: in 2024 GM was reported to have shared drivers’ trip and hard-braking data with data brokers that fed insurers’ risk scores, and the FTC later took action over it. People saw premiums go up without ever knowingly agreeing to it. That’s why folks pull fuses: the phone at least gives you a switch.
A smartphone can’t kill me on command over the internet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK0SrxBC1xs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_hacking#2015_Tesla_Model_S_Hack
But yeah, privacy wise I agree.
It’s a good baseline test to see different manufacturers and models and who is better/worse, etc. that said, they did opt-in to many of these (under threat in some cases), so may not be the baseline (though surely enshittification will have it be required or play unblockable ads in the future).
