Modern cars are computers on wheels - they have more sensors than you can count and are constantly phoning home with telemetry data like your location, speed, fuel levels, sudden accelerations/decelerations, video footage, driver attention data from eye monitoring systems, and hundreds of other data points. Cars have inward- and outward-facing cameras. They have microphones. They have always-on modems. It’s all enabled by default with difficult or meaningless opt-outs, and your data is monetized through brokers like LexisNexis or Verisk.
Remember, if your goal is to avoid surveillance then you shouldn’t use android auto or apple CarPlay either.
This has nothing to do with CarPlay or Android Auto. This is about an OBD port and Bluetooth app to connect to the car computer.
Privacy experts suggest not using a cellular phone at all.
The part about the car using your Bluetooth to utilize your phone’s signal to dump all its data is annoying. I can see in the near future they will just wire these components so they can’t be disabled, or by disabling them you void your warranty.
Without legislation we are at the mercy of corporations.
My 24yr old truck has no idea what even a CD is and I like it like that. I think for sure there will be a market for dumb cars at some point similar to the way dumb tvs are making a (very small) comeback. I honestly don’t see the reason the car needs any of that when I can slap my phone up on the dash and it can handle all the navigation and music etc.
I would love a BYD with no meaningful wireless connectivity. An EV dumber than a chevy bolt would be amazing
Saving this place to remind myself later to edit this comment to share a video with you later when I get to my pc.
This is will become the standard job for mechanics. Eat my boot 2027 american bill mandating surveillance into cars.
Wonder if that will in fact become a thing
It’ll probably violate some TOS and they’ll claim the car is somehow compromised because they aren’t allowed to spy on you
Keep the modem and GPS running … just install it with a lithium battery or wire it directly to a vehicle battery system and place the unit on a school bus or local city transit bus
Or someone could start a small business offering to do this for people … the business would be to just rent out space on a moving van or transport truck and just fill it with GPS and modem units that have been removed from cars … for a nominal fee ($1 a week for example), you keep all these units powered and just have the truck driven around everywhere working as a regular delivery vehicle.
I would like to do this to my car, I’ll save this and see if others have done it for mine.
Some cars have the cellular modem (often called the “telematics module”) on a separate fuse. Just pull that and you’re good to go without doing any complex disassembly.
