I am planing to buy a new car. Which of these are better relatively speaking in terms of privacy, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, or Audi? I can’t buy old used cars. I have to buy a new car. I like new safety features but I don’t want privacy invasive features, or subscription services.
Ask the dealership if it comes with internet connection. Simply don’t buy if it does have it. Maybe those will be basic trims without safety features you otherwise want.
Can’t remember where I heard it, but the car might send the data back home via your wifi. It was about BMW
why are these your 3 options, also what market are you in? assuming that you’re talking about these three you are in Europe, get yourself a Dacia and call it a day.
I am in India. Used car market here is not all that great unfortunately.
I have no idea about how the car market is in India, those three options are pretty awful for privacy… and reliability too, they commonly have check engine light issues and need a lot of work
Are you in a hurry?
If not, you could keep an eye on Slate Auto
With no embedded modem, the Slate Truck is the antithesis of today’s connected cars.
the irony of that site… 229 cookie partners
I was gonna post about Slate. Awesome stuff. A shame they don’t ship to or build in Canada.
A shame they don’t ship to or build in Canada
I was about to say “Yet. US & Canada cooperate on car regulations, so it’s trivial to support both markets”.
But, web says the tariff situation got in the way, and Slate has no plans for it. Ugh. That sucks :(. Hopefully sanity will be restored eventually, and it’ll become possible again.
I want a better timeline please.
I figure if/when they start selling maybe they will expand. Likely, years away. I can wait.
Essentially none, they are all significantly to severely terrible on privacy.
The Slate truck looks promising due to not having a head unit from the factory but it’s anyone’s guess if and when that project comes to fruition and in what state.
What do you mean? They, and their 1758 different business partners, TOTALLY respect your privacy. :)
Doesn’t matter who the partners are if the vehicle doesn’t collect and transmit data.
Something old enough to not have a cellular modem in it, and hope that privacy laws improve before you have to buy again and it’s inescapable.
That being said, I was forced to buy new last time. I called Mazda and they were able to deactivate it remotely, and confirmed that this deactivates everything and does not send any data to them moving forward. Does this mean they can reactivate it remotely? Yes. But it’s something. I have tried a few times to get the telematic control unit physically removed, but got stonewalled by the dealer. I may try a third party mechanic or a different dealer. I found a schematic that seems to suggest it can be removed kn my vehicle with no downsides. Not all vehicles are like this, it may break something such as audio or other sensors.
Of your options, I not go with BMW as they are pushing subscriptions based features. In my new car journey I may settle on a low millage model 3 if I can get it with the lithium pack.
Practically all modern vehicles are privacy nightmares on wheels. They have identifying sensors all over the vehicle, on both the exterior and interior. And all ECUs (monitoring and controlling sensors and actuators from a vehicle’s particular subsystems) are (indirectly) connected to a cellular modem, which is likely to support ‘vehicle to everything (V2X)’ communications: where the vehicle exchanges sensory data with external networks (primarily the manufacturer’s), road infrastructure and other road users nearby.
Your most effective remedy is to hamper the functioning of the modem, that is if the manufacturer doesn’t throw an error code as a result of it. If that isn’t an option, check if it allows you to physically disable sensors (taping off, or limiting the FOV of cameras, or unplugging microphones). And lastly, if even that isn’t an option, disable as many “features” as you can; even though some may require you to manually re-disable them, every time you restart your vehicle…
Keep in mind that in doing so, you might also disable actual features (ones you might find genuinely useful). Mozilla’s somewhat outdated reports of manufacturer’s privacy statements might give you some idea, of which brands could be considered the lesser of evil. But these are subject to constant change, as are the over-the-air updates of vehicles in their fleet, and their dynamic user manuals…
What is this bougie BS on an ML instance?
Bike + public transit.
Fuck cars.
Chat is having a car bourgeois?
Get a late year (facelift) L320 or L322 Range Rover/Sport or LR4. 2011-2014ish. They have plenty of luxuries, status, looks, horsepower, safety, and very very minimal to no privacy invasion.
Avoid BMW then.
Also, depending on the location they can be unreliable (US higher end models at least).
A coworker bought one with 60k miles for about 30k (included 100k extended warranty). He has a Toyota now. I believe the beamer was considered a total dud around 110k due to electrical issues.
buy a bicycle
No joke. I got a cargo bike and couldn’t be happier. Easily transports a full shopping cart of groceries.
Do you mean a longtail? Or a bike with a box in front in which kids or cargo sit?
It’s a muli motor, a long john with a collapsible cargo compartment in the front and not much longer or wider than normal bikes.
I call it „my bike with a trunk“. The kids are too big for it, but the dog loves riding.
on a lot of cars, you can simply pull the fuse to the modem.
Do you have a list for these cars?
I would like to know this.
you can probably find in your service manual, or electrical diagram.
