I’ve ranted on and on about how I hate the intrusion of technology into the simple act of driving, but my ire is approaching volcanic levels. Try this little snippet (via Insty, thankee, Squire):
While it’s often easier to sync your phone to a vehicle, it doesn’t allow the company you purchased the vehicle from to maximize its data harvesting capabilities. It also lets you circumvent their operating system to a large degree and any apps that might be tied to commerce, which is why automakers are now trying to sweeten the pot. The ultimate goal is to basically convert your vehicle into something that can sweep up just as much information about you as your smartphone — if not more.
“If you’re using Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, then you’re kind of limited [for use of applications]”, Alexander Schoenhals, a Mercedes-Benz engineer working on third-party apps, explained.
Do they even realize how sinister this all sounds? Every time I read shit like this from MB, BMW or VW, I want the 8th Army Air Force group to be re-constituted just to fly over and bomb their fucking factories into rubble (and repeat with Detroit on the return leg), simply to weed this bullshit out and force the aforementioned data harvesters to start from scratch all over again.
I’m unlikely to buy a new car anytime soon, if at all — more likely, I’ll be driving New Wife’s Fiat 500 forever, once my non-technological Tiguan has breathed its last drop of 89 octane unleaded.
But mark my words; I will never drive some information vampire like the modern breed.
I’d rather find a way to get my hands on something from the pre-technology era (1970s) like a VW Thing, a Jeep CJ5 or others of that ilk (other suggestions in Comments), and deal with their discomfort and unreliability.
As for modern car manufacturers: fuck ’em, and the motherboard they’re surfing in on. I want no part of their shit.
I’ve had a cellphone continuously since 1994 and it’s always been a means of making calls to and from clients and sometimes family. In the past 10 years or so the cellphone use has dropped off by at least 95%. I go months without using it at all. I’ve tried to use my cell for web browsing and just do not find the interface conducive, in fact, it is very limiting. Like many things today, I just don’t “get” the addiction to cellphone use. My suspicion is that it is rooted in basic laziness and the stark lack of ideas.
I wrote an article about this a few years ago on American Digest called “Box of Colors”.
https://americandigest.org/box-of-colors-by-ghostsniper/
There’s one problem with owning and driving an older tech car, and I’m sure it may have been planned. If you own a classic, or even something only a few years old, you’ll need to be able to do all the repairs yourself. Parts will become scarce, or will no longer be produced. If you’re ageing, or have an infirmity, it will make it even harder to do your own repairs. Well, you can have someone else do it. But, wait. Your local hot rod shop owner just retired and sold the business. They no longer work on “classic” cars. Ok, but you can go to your other shop. But, wait. They tell you they no longer repair carburetors, fuel injected cars only. Both of the above have happened to me. Eventually, you’ll break down and have to get a tracking device on wheels, or no longer drive. Which is probably what the rulers prefer anyway.
Our 1997 Miata has a computer chip on-board but only for engine management (fuel injection) purposes…heck, it didn’t even have a radio in it when we bought it. You could look for a used one for a fairly reasonable price, and with decent all-season radials it offers pretty good driving even in the rain. I’m guessing that driving in snow isn’t a big deal where you’re located.
My only problem is getting in and out of it these days. They’re low to the ground and the seats are darned near right on the floor. They’ve got an amazing amount of leg room, but if you’re too tall driving with the top up might be a problem…
I have a 10-year-old Ram Pickup. I continually get emails and regular mail trying to entice me to sign up for their U-connect service. They used to advertise 3G service (wow) but now have upgraded somehow to offer 4G service (without any physical changes to my truck?). My truck can be a wifi hotspot, oh boy. I can make calls from it, yippie. I’ll get some additional apps on the center stack info screen, can’t wait! All for a fee, of course. But ain’t gonna happen.
I already pay for a phone that gets 5G, can function as a wifi hotspot, and has access to all the apps I ever want. Hell, I can even use my phone to modify my truck computer settings. Why the F would I pay for redundant service?
It’s not so much a push to scavenge personal data (IMO), it’s the car companies trying to make any profit possible off of cars/trucks that were sold 10 years ago. Or to make continuing revenue streams long after the sale. Face it,40 years ago only a masochist would drive a 10 year old vehicle with 150k miles on the odometer. Today? That seems to be the norm and it’s only going to get worse. As the economy worsens, new car sales will drop and shit like this will increase.
A friend has a 2000 Ram diesel dualie that has 386k on it and it’s his daily driver. He also has a 2022 Ram diesel dualie with 6k on it that he only drives on date night. Yeah, he’s single.
’99 F250SD 7.3 335K!
The only thing I want the car to take from the phone is my music and podcasts to play. I used to use an iPod which was great but crApple stopped making the large capacity one and they don’t support them at all. I don’t even want GPS. I’m just find with a map and Atlas.
JQ
About a year ago, I ended up getting a 2020 Ford Exploder to replace the the previous spoirts sedab that someone had rudely destroyed.
It came with an app that did some mildly useful things, like tell me where my car is (uh oh), allow me to remote lock and unlock it, or even start the engine on cold days.
All in all, useful things.
Then one fine day, the app had auto-updated itself, and demanded I accept a new set of license terms. (double uh oh) which I actually read. (extreme UH OH).
The new terms were…rapacious … to say the least regarding what data was being collected, and what Ford could do with it. Wildly unnacceptable!
So, unlike 99% of humanity, I investigated what was needed to opt out.
Well, for starters, you had to log out and delete the app.
Then you had to go to the website and delete your account. They assured you (????) that this meant that they would stop collecting your data, but it wouldn’t prevent your car from tranmitting it.
So, digging deeper, they recommend that you factory reset your Sync system, which would dis-associate your account from your car’s cellular modem.
But even then, the modem would keep transmitting data.
It took 30 minutes to find and study some shop manuals, to identify the culprit and its location: a module called a TPU (telematics processing unit)
It took another 30 minutes of futzing with interior trim pannels to access the TPU, which in my case happened to be bolted to the interior of left rear wheel well, and to disconnect the module’s data, power, and antenna connections, leaving its dead carcass to rot in place as a warning to the others.
I then spent another 20 minutes with some geekly gear to confirm that the car was in fact radio isolated, and fully functional.
If you look around, I’m not alone. There’s a LOT of people ripping their car’s TPUs out. But not nearly enough.
The people who know better are outnumbered and surrounded by those who aren’t.
@Don Curton – You just reminded me of something BMW started, but I expect the rest of the manufacturers to follow. A “complete” vehicle so you don’t have to have multiple parts/setups on the assembly line, but you “license” the functionality of the item(s) in your car on a monthly or yearly basis. It’s analogous to software licensing for businesses (but it’s coming for consumers, see:Microsoft). Stop paying the license fee, and the item stops working. Manufacturers see it as no effort revenue stream.
@geekWithA.45 – That worked, but wait until manufacturers put in TPU checks where if the TPU cannot contact the mothership, the car goes into “degraded” mode (10 MPH max for “safety”?) or stops working. This is not speculation as the “kill switch” law has already been enacted in the US. Again, look at what Microsoft did with its’ OS, where if it cannot contact the Microsoft servers after a period of time, the OS goes into degraded mode, and then stops working. You will allow the manufacturers to track you and suck up your personal data, or your car won’t work.
That 1968 Dodge Dart with a 225 slant-6 I saw a while back is looking better everyday …
It >>can<< be even worse than that. Most automotive components are not mechanically or electrically linked to each other, except through a data bus.
For a simple example, your gas pedal generates throttle control messages, which are picked up by the fuel injection system. It's a short hop from there to the fuel management system simply rejecting any throttle control message not cryptographically signed as an Authentic and Properly Registered OEM part.
Something like that is frankly necessary to prevent IOT attacks from outside. Where it boils down to is the trust model, and who is the highest signing authority.
The theory of property holds that you, as the owner, are the highest authority, which you can potentially delegate to an expert of your choosing.
The reality that Microsoft, Apple , Ford, BMW etc are the actual signing authorities who hold owners in contempt corrupts the very concept of property.
My truck is a 2001 Silverado that I bought new. Has 164K miles on it and runs like a top. I picked it up at our local shop today after oil change. Last oil change was March of last year. I had intended to get it done earlier, but stuff happens. Odometer says I drove exactly 1900 miles in that time. Dipstick read down 1/2 quart. With any luck, it will outlive me. If I put my cell phone in a 30 cal. ammo can, I can run silent.
Yesterday a rented VW Passat tried to prevent me from changing lanes. The steering wheel resisted my efforts to move into the right lane. The resistance was small and went away after I forced the wheel but it shocked and frightened me. At first I thought the steering system had failed.
After some experimentation I figured out that the resistance to lane changes went away when I signalled the lane change or the highway dashed lane lines were gone from winter dirt and wear, which is common up here in Canada.
I always signal lane changes except when the highway is deserted, but I spent the rest of the drive changing lanes without signalling when safe and forcing the rat bastard Kraut fascist computer systems with the hopes of wearing them out.
I always liked the idea of a Thing…in Afrika Korps colors. Preferably with an MG-42 on a pintle.