Time to switch to an EV

Most cars throughout history have had zero need for the internet. I just hope it does not end up like video games, where they can sell an unfinished product and patch it later. Though there are benefits to that model, but recalls exist for a reason.

We need a Stop Killing Cars movement

WOW... we were trying to hunt down why my buddy's forestor's battery kept dying....

We even disconnected the wire that tells the alternator to stop charging the battery...

Yup, lost a battery to that (2019 Impreza). Pulled the fuse for the modem, and it's been fine ever since. I never used (or wanted) any of those features anyway.

So you'd also get screwed if you routinely are parked somewhere without any cellular access? Nice design.

Yep. My toddler hit the starlink button recently. Absolutely killed my outback.

Crazy the bull shit I had to do to start it again.

With OTA updates eventually they could FORCE you into buying a new one.

I hate the privacy nightmare cars are turning into.

People already have been brainwashed on "how many years of security updates does this smartphone model have?", and being paranoid about older-than-a-few-years devices, so you're not far off.

(Not trying to diminish the necessity of software security updates, but at the same time I could not find any Android exploits that do not involve users installing malicious apps, supply chain attacks, or state actors)

Or it's just incompetence, short sighted planning to please the shareholders

Sure but that’s also the reason stuff like this isn’t GPL. For-profit software simply isn’t going to use the give-away-for-free license.

Well, most cars don't REQUIRE it, but most cars lose features if it doesn't have network connectivity.

Good luck finding a car made after 2020 that doesn't have at least one or two features that require the Internet to function.

I'm curious what you would pick today if you had to.

Do you not read what you write?

Basic stuff like connecting vehicle to WiFi and apple play should be enough imo. Adding internet to a car is just an added cost

We'll see if we get to, given how controlling corporations are rapidly becoming over necessities of modern living.

You can't really write laws that just require people to offer a service indefinitely though. That's how you end up locking some poor bastard in jail who honestly tried to start a good car company up, did the best they could, and then saw it all go under. No one would ever start a car company, lest they risk imprisonment if the thing went bankrupt despite their best efforts. Starting a car company is already a hugely risky endeavor. Now you're asking people to risk imprisonment if the company fails. I'm generally in favor of locking up more CEOs. But there are plenty of ones committing real crimes. We don't need to be inventing new ones to trap otherwise innocent people.

The way to do this right is to mandate a long but still limited period of cloud coverage, say 20 years. And require companies to put up a bond to cover the cost of third-party hosting these ongoing cloud service in the event they go bankrupt. Then also require all essential functions to work without cloud connectivity.

Doesn't even need a technical solution. Could just be some law that in order to sell a vehicle:

• A company has to maintain any cloud support for at least 20 years.

• They have to put up a bond that will allow such services to continue even if they go belly up before those 20 years are through.

• All vehicle features where cloud connections are not essential to their function must be operable without any cloud connection. So it's fine if after 20 years you can't pull the contacts from your google account to display on the car's screen, or if GPS map updates no longer work. But the door locks or seat heaters better not be cloud connected.

Saturn enters the chat.

I preordered one. I think I might see how to use meshtastic to add remote start. Should be able to have bidirectional status and huge range.

...but they're building a fleet truck...?

Too bad Bezos has his hand in it.

my 2008 is now a piece of shit and things keep breaking that I don't bother to fix, but I'm considering keeping it alive even though I bought a 2012 to replace it. might want to start investigating that misfiring and why it's eating oil...

after fixing most of the issues required to get the 2012 safetied, I've come to the conclusion that I got a bit scammed and the vehicle might have been partially flooded, so who knows what else might go wrong. every task I've started on it has had a hiccup, even just replacing the license plate light bulbs - the brackets the screws for the bulb cover going into disintegrated, so I had to remove the whole trim piece to replace those. since when do things like that rust out‽

There's lot to be said for physical safety features like side and curtain airbags, or better crumple zones that don't crush your feet, but those were pretty much standard by 2012 so you can have those without all the computer nightmares.

I wonder how much cheaper a car without any crap in it could be today if they still manufactured them at scale