Privacy Article: Slate says your truck will never track you!

[KevinRS]

Bluetooth buttons on steering wheel would likely be simple "dumb" buttons, like you can buy to use for your phone that when connected to the phone, just register a button press. Usually they are used for phones for things like remotely controlling the camera. These would just be powered off of the 12v line in the truck, or maybe a 5v line, instead of a button cell. The buttons wouldn't get updates, they basically have no software.
What they do would be set entirely by the software on the phone, likely volume control, pausing streaming, maybe if there are bluetooth speakers compatible, handling handsfree calling.

 

[mattlach]

This right here - if they are willing to commit to it in a legally binding document - instantly makes the Slate truck the best EV on the market, bar none.

 

[NMNeil]

Even if the company enshitifies, you still need hardware to collect and transmit data

So beware the recall for your Slate that tells you it desperately needs to install a missing 'feature'
I'm old and all my cars have had a speedo, temperature and oil gauge or warning light and a fuel gauge.
Slate will probably have a battery capacity or estimated range gauge and a speedo.
Why do you need anything else let alone have it connected to Wi-Fi Bluetooth or the internet?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Why do you need anything else let alone have it connected to Wi-Fi Bluetooth or the internet?

To check on charging progress while eating lunch without having to go out to the car to check a 'gauge'.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Slate will probably have a battery capacity or estimated range gauge and a speedo.
Why do you need anything else let alone have it connected to Wi-Fi Bluetooth or the internet?

Needs an external connection to start light shows. Please don't tell me my Slate won't do light shows even if it can't "wave" windows, mirrors or tailgate. I guess aftermarket is a possibility if every light "bulb/pixel" inside and out is addressable over canbus.

 

[kvermeer]

To check on charging progress while eating lunch without having to go out to the car to check a 'gauge'.

Lucky for me, my phone already has a pair of apps that let me check on charging progress while eating lunch without having to go to the car:

​

With a little practice, you can use these tools to estimate state of charge if you know when you started lunch. Really advanced, users can even figure it out without them!

They're not quite as precise as an LTE modem uploading state of charge to The Cloud, but it's more than close enough for me!

 

[KevinRS]

Lucky for me, my phone already has a pair of apps that let me check on charging progress while eating lunch without having to go to the car:

​

With a little practice, you can use these tools to estimate state of charge if you know when you started lunch. Really advanced, users can even figure it out without them!

They're not quite as precise as an LTE modem uploading state of charge to The Cloud, but it's more than close enough for me!

Some charging locations charge you a penalty for remaining on the charger after charging is complete, especially during high use times. The estimate you get when you plug in is just that: you may plug in and see a 30 minute to charge estimate, and then it is complete in 20.
This is why many would like some kind of remote monitoring or notification, it's not that everyone is too dense to use a clock.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Lucky for me, my phone already has a pair of apps that let me check on charging progress while eating lunch without having to go to the car:

...

With a little practice, you can use these tools to estimate state of charge if you know when you started lunch. Really advanced, users can even figure it out without them!

They're not quite as precise as an LTE modem uploading state of charge to The Cloud, but it's more than close enough for me!

Do those apps tell you when the charging equipment fails?

Feel free to stick with your 'apps' - I will prefer updates using some form of communication.

Not being able to connect through Bluetooth might be a deal breaker for me.

We'll know more as we get closer to production!!!!!! 🤣

 

[TPL]

To check on charging progress while eating lunch without having to go out to the car to check a 'gauge'.

What many people don't realize is that my local-driving-only charge-in-my-garage use case is the only one that actually exists, and anyone else is just an NPC in the matrix. So we'll actually never need to check on charging status during lunch.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

What many people don't realize is that my local-driving-only charge-in-my-garage use case is the only one that actually exists, and anyone else is just an NPC in the matrix. So we'll actually never need to check on charging status during lunch.

Not following you here. Surely there are other use cases where someone will be charging during lunch. Are you not able to see that use case? Or maybe you are trying to be sarcastic? I can't tell...

And what is an NPC?

 

[TPL]

Not following you here. Surely there are other use cases where someone will be charging during lunch. Are you not able to see that use case? Or maybe you are trying to be sarcastic? I can't tell...

And what is an NPC?

Sorry, yes, I was being sarcastic, making fun of people who see their use case (like my garage-only charging) and assume that anyone different from them doesn't exist.

NPC is non-player character; in a role-playing game they're cardboard stand-ins created by the gamemaster to interact with the player characters (PCs).

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Sorry, yes, I was being sarcastic, making fun of people who see their use case (like my garage-only charging) and assume that anyone different from them doesn't exist.

NPC is non-player character; in a role-playing game they're cardboard stand-ins created by the gamemaster to interact with the player characters (PCs).

WELL IN THAT CASE 🤣 🤣 🤣 and apologies

 

[sodamo]

I guess there is a fair chance I’d be charging during lunch. Check an app? And miss the chance to walk out to my garage, lay a caressing touch on that impressive Slate fender as I whisper, “thanks for being here”? Naaa.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I guess there is a fair chance I’d be charging during lunch. Check an app? And miss the chance to walk out to my garage, lay a caressing touch on that impressive Slate fender as I whisper, “thanks for being here”? Naaa.

While it's charging by sunlight!

 

[JustChris]

This is encouraging, and so long as Slate remains privately held, it may even be true.

Bear in mind that if Slate survives, it will almost certainly go through an IPO to become a publicly traded corporation, very likely a Delaware corporation, which I'll call Slate, Inc.

Slate, Inc. will owe a fiduciary duty to itself and to its shareholders. It will owe no such duty to its customers or to the public at large. If Slate, Inc. determines that it is in the best long-term interest of the shareholders to harvest and sell user data, it will do so.

But let's enjoy the honeymoon while we have it. When Slate the privately held corporation makes a statement like this, it may actually be true.

I would like to add my vote to help tip the scales.

The absence of tattle-tale data is one of the largest factors for why I want a Slate. Take that away, and engage in the same subscription crap that other automakers are doing, and my love affair is over.

I want to be able to love, work on, and modify this truck, in my driveway, without asking permission of corporate overlords. If I own it, I OWN IT.