WiFi Connectivity for vehicle control scheduling

[skidoofast]

I don’t want full connectivity but being able to schedule heating, cooling and charging would be neat

my guess (just a guess) is it will be able to connect to WiFi and /or add a SIM card that you can add to a module for full remote access

I’m not sure but I’m guessing the heat and air controls actually run through a body control module and not direct wire / cable adjust like a 1987 ford ranger did

 

[metroshot]

Most new cars have phone app controls - Slate should have a basic app...

My Ford and Honda EV have them for turning on climate controls before leaving, remotely locking/unlocking, raising windows, etc.....

 

[skidoofast]

Most new cars have phone app controls - Slate should have a basic app...

My Ford and Honda EV have them for turning on climate controls before leaving, remotely locking/unlocking, raising windows, etc.....

yes, even my 2017 f 150 has a free app, I can start, stop, lock and unlock the doors, I can see my fuel level and oil life as well

but that means it’s connected to the cloud all the time, something Slate said wouldn’t happen, but I could see it being an add on

 

[AZFox]

Absolutely no desire here to make my car an IoT (Internet of Things) device! Neither WiFi nor a cellular connection are acceptable.

Bluetooth for diagnostics and firmware updates is (barely) acceptable, as long as it can be turned off when you're not doing diagnostics and updating firmware. If there's a wired-connection way to do it, I'd use that.

A button on the key fob should be able to prepare for travel by turning on A/C or heat, and warming or cooling the battery to operating temperature, if that's something that should be done.



If you're wondering why I'm adamant, try this:
Find a cybersecurity podcast and listen to a month's worth of episodes. If you're impatient, search YouTube for something like [cyber security conference] and go down a rabbit hole there for a while. There's a whole world for you to discover, and it's a bit bleak.

• Search #1 (Is Bluetooth secure?)
• Search #2 (Are connected vehicles secure?)

Are you aware that your enabled Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are broadcasting as a unique identifiable fingerprint beacon? Here's an 11-year-old video that finally convinced me to throw up my hands and give up on leaving my phone's Wi-Fi enabled.

 

[Adam W]

Vulnerability to hackers is one thing, but the big car companies themselves have demonstrated an inescapable thirst for your private information, and are happy to collect, sell, and share any telemetry data they can get their hands on. They will trick you into enabling the feature because it's nice to have the AC pre-chill the cabin, but once a car is connected, all limits on that data go out the window. Slate having zero capabilities to connect is a big plus in my book.

Here's a few tidbits from Honda's privacy policy on connected vehicles that you opt in to when enabling seemingly innocuous "connected vehicle technologies" :

Covered Information We Collect:

• Driver Behavior Information such as vehicle speed, vehicle acceleration and deceleration, pedal positions, engine speed, direction, and time of travel, steering angle, yaw rate, vehicle control, and Honda Sensing/Acura Watch system settings and usage.
• Precise Geolocation information meaning the exact location of your vehicle at a specific point in time or over a period of time accurate within an area equivalent to a circle with a radius of 1,850 feet or less.

How We Use Covered Information

• Market first-party and third-party goods and services that we think would benefit vehicle owners;
• Protect our rights or property or the rights or property of others;
• Help protect the safety of you or others
• We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials and private parties to enforce and comply with the law.

There was a time when I fell in the "I'm not doing anything wrong, what do I care what data is shared?" camp. Today though, when what's legal and what's not can change with an executive order from a ||redacted||, or when law enforcement are happy to just ignore the law entirely, I'm more cautious about what info is collected and transmitted outside of my control, and take care to lock that shit down where I can.