This is yet another reason I’m keeping my 2000 Miata. It’s just a car.
Speaking of car rentals and CarPlay, can we at least mention Data Privacy? Some cars seem to be WAY worse than others:
https://www.axios.com/2023/09/08/car-data-privacy-record-listen-mozilla-report
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I just returned a rental. I love CarPlay but never have owned a car with it. So I tend to eagerly link up, withholding contacts, whenever I rent. The last car, a Kia, had five other phones in the database. In Europe, the cleaners, thanks to GDPR, are supposed to clear them off when detailing the vehicle. I did it myself straight away and then added mine, but the vehicle every time I started up, dredged back up an android it had previously paired to. Needless to say I deleted mine at drop off, turned on the car, checked the list of phones, and just the android was there.
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Wait, it gets worse.
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One minor win for privacy.
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Sounds like a good reason to get a third-party audio/info system for a car, even if it is an otherwise unnecessary expense.
I apparently failed to click Reply on this post a while back.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html
And now there’s a report a now-fixed Kia vulnerability that required only a license plate.
2004; factory turbo. Still love it, two decades on.
The privacy band keeps playing, but automakers don’t seem to be listening.
A local investigative program did a story recently about modern cars, privacy and security. Much of it was quite alarming.
The full show is here, detailing how they were able to hack a vehicle and control some features, but it may require a free account to view.
The more I see, the more I’m glad I’m driving a 2012 car that has no connectivity whatsoever.
The way things are looking, I’m never replacing it. If I need to spend $10,000 to replace the entire powertrain at some point in the future, I’ll do it just to avoid spending three times as much to replace it with trash.
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Hey Adam, you absolutely MUST see the Apple TV show “Your Friends & Neighbors”. The main character, played by John Hamm, has a super expensive car – Masarati, I think. I’ll stop just shy of typing a spoiler here; so just watch the show, enjoy a good chuckle, and you can thank me later.
P.S. It’s best to watch at least 2 or 3 episodes – you’ll see what I mean.
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