Sure, but OnStar is largely limited to GM vehicles and, as you said, certain high-end models as an option. Also, remote start was an option on a number of vehicles going years back.
The change with EVs is that the smart crap is in the base models, so you can’t get a model that doesn’t phone home. With OnStar, it’s usually as simple as removing the infotainment screen and disconnecting a cable to disable it, whereas newer cars are a lot more complicated to disable the phone home features, and may not work without them.
I blame EVs for normalizing it, as well as making it more difficult to disable that crap.
Maybe it’s both of our bias but I stopped seeing new cars without an integrated head unit in 2010, the Tesla model s came out in 2012. Yes the base models didn’t have the informant system but I will die on the hill that it’s not the EV that brought it to the masses. Longer loan options so people could get a higher end car and pay on it for 7years. Along with people wanting gps in their cars, play music, and hands free laws, it was easier to just get a car that you could tap a button to answer your phone.
The integrated head unit isn’t the problem, my 2007 Prius has one and it doesn’t have any way to phone home (no navigation built-in, for example).
I don’t know about the rest of the industry, but at least with Toyota Prius, navigation/internet access became standard around 2020. All of that is standard on most EVs, except maybe the base Leaf (it’s standard on Chevy Bolt though). EVs certainly didn’t create the option, but it became standard soon after EVs shipped with those features as standard.
Ahh I gotcha. Yeah, I like my EV but with the reports coming out that they are selling data to insurance providers I would love to disconnect my connection to the Internet but I believe it has a esim from Verizon.
Yeah, and digging that out could be a huge pain, as it’s usually buried beneath the dashboard, so it would probably take an hour or two to get to, even if it is user-removable.
I’m not going to buy any vehicle that I cannot block from accessing the internet, so my search for a car is a bit complicated. Instead of just looking at price and specs, now I also have to look for what kind of spyware it has and if it can be easily disabled.
I feel like it largely started with EVs though, since they came with all of the smart crap out of the gate.
That’s just when you noticed. High end models of cars had that since OnStar.
Sure, but OnStar is largely limited to GM vehicles and, as you said, certain high-end models as an option. Also, remote start was an option on a number of vehicles going years back.
The change with EVs is that the smart crap is in the base models, so you can’t get a model that doesn’t phone home. With OnStar, it’s usually as simple as removing the infotainment screen and disconnecting a cable to disable it, whereas newer cars are a lot more complicated to disable the phone home features, and may not work without them.
I blame EVs for normalizing it, as well as making it more difficult to disable that crap.
Maybe it’s both of our bias but I stopped seeing new cars without an integrated head unit in 2010, the Tesla model s came out in 2012. Yes the base models didn’t have the informant system but I will die on the hill that it’s not the EV that brought it to the masses. Longer loan options so people could get a higher end car and pay on it for 7years. Along with people wanting gps in their cars, play music, and hands free laws, it was easier to just get a car that you could tap a button to answer your phone.
The integrated head unit isn’t the problem, my 2007 Prius has one and it doesn’t have any way to phone home (no navigation built-in, for example).
I don’t know about the rest of the industry, but at least with Toyota Prius, navigation/internet access became standard around 2020. All of that is standard on most EVs, except maybe the base Leaf (it’s standard on Chevy Bolt though). EVs certainly didn’t create the option, but it became standard soon after EVs shipped with those features as standard.
Ahh I gotcha. Yeah, I like my EV but with the reports coming out that they are selling data to insurance providers I would love to disconnect my connection to the Internet but I believe it has a esim from Verizon.
Yeah, and digging that out could be a huge pain, as it’s usually buried beneath the dashboard, so it would probably take an hour or two to get to, even if it is user-removable.
I’m not going to buy any vehicle that I cannot block from accessing the internet, so my search for a car is a bit complicated. Instead of just looking at price and specs, now I also have to look for what kind of spyware it has and if it can be easily disabled.