This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Any idea around what model year this started to take off? I drive a 2000 so I'm not worried now, but thinking of upgrading to something slightly newer.
There are EV conversion kits available, so it is possible to turn an old car electric. They won't have the storage capacity of a natively electric car, but it is an option.
Depends on the OEM, but generally late-2010s is when it became more ubiquitous.
Any car with an infotainment system is probably a "risk," but especially '20s cars with features tied to apps are the real vulnerability here.
Wish I had the money to even be able to drive one of these nightmare cars in the first place. Yay for being poor I guess!
Merkel years ago: " ... to decide, who the cars data belongs to: the manufacturer or the provider"
Freely translated from memory (it was about the cell providers), but the point is; the user was never in consideration.
Do humans listen to what we say in our cars? Can I scar someone for life by describing kinks I find on the internet or saying stuff like "babe, pull over...the mechanical pencil lead just broke off in my penis"
On a more serious note, perhaps I will cover the tracking camera in my car. Didn't want it, but it came with the stupid trim level of my car (makes sure you aren't falling asleep on the road/distracted.)
Well that was depressing.
I have not read it yet, but do they have any countermeasures people can take?
Maybe a dumb question, but if all of the vehicle's bells and whistles are meticulously recording my every move... how do those data get back to the auto manufacturer anyhow? I read the article and the "how that works" link, and sure it mentioned phone connectivity, but if I don't connect my phone, then my car presumably has no way to communicate what it collects... or are there a bunch of extra radios that phone home (satellite, cellular...)?
The frustrating thing is that there's no clear way to know exactly how much you're exposing yourself with this. Even the article (and related links) don't spell it out adequately (IMO).
For example, I just purchased a new(ish) 2022 Nissan. I don't have the Nissan app on my phone and I don't subscribe to any of their connectivity services. Is my data staying in the car or is it finding some conduit back to Nissan? Is connecting my phone to the console for music and maps opening me up to Nissan's data collection? Is using bluetooth for music and hand-free calls exposing my data? Is there any way to know the specific avenues for data collection that present a risk and how can they be mitigated?
