Doesn't really look good:
"All new cars today are privacy nightmares on wheels that collect huge amounts of personal information."
this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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Privacy
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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
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Hyundai’s privacy policy says, for example, that they can share data with law enforcement and governments based on “formal or informal” requests.
Wow. Informal requests means that someone just has to pretend they're a LEO and Hyundai might share the information.
Ouff.
A few cars use Android Automotive OS. I wonder if it's possible to run a privacy focused custom OS on them.
Doubtful. Android automotive OS runs on a single ECU in the car while a lot more are in there running QNX, Linux or some embedded OSes (sometimes there are more than 100 such ECUs in the car). So there's no guarantee that the "problematic" services are even running on this ECU (I bet it's more distributed). Furthermore updating / changing the software of a single ECU is done using special hardware or through some kind of gateway ECU. They will perform validation on the to-be-flashed software to ensure it's from the vendor itself.
And even if you'd get it flashed I can guarantee you that nothing will work.
I watched a video of some People hacking scooters from CCC. Damn scooters. They gave up.
Define "privacy" and define "modern car".
In the end, it doesn't matter what car you're driving if you bring your Android/iPhone...
There are "privacy oriented" smartphone replacements. You could flash graphene os to a Pixel.
There is not really such thing for cars.
And, again, what is your definition of "privacy" and what is your definition of "modern car"?
Privacy as in either no telemetry being sent back to the dealer, or the option to turn it off (actually being turned off, not just being set to "off") The digital aspects of privacy, not car window tint.
Modern car as in a car that's built within the last 5 years.
Also, I'm not actually looking for a car, just curious.
First, you need to differentiate between "dealer" and "manufacturer", except in minority cases like Tesla, they are two separate entities.
Dealers, as a rule, don't have the capacity to accept telemetry data from vehicles. Source: I'm a former dealer sysadmin.
What they can and do do, is download telemetry data stored onboard when you bring the vehicle in for service. This is done through the OBD-II port which has been in every car since 1996.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/obd-ii-port-used/
If you're concerned (or curious) about what data is passed over OBD-II, you can buy your own scanner, $20 to $100 on Amazon depending on features.
Now, MANUFACTURERS, that's a different deal:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/autos/sc-auto-tips-0102-driving-data-collection-20181225-story.html
For you asking OP twice to specify "privacy" and "modern" (which was very clear what they means, to me at least) your answer is somewhat disappointing now 😁
Telling them that a) dealers don't have access to telemetry data beyond what's passed on the vehicle data port and b) providing a news article showing that 3/4 new cars communicate data back to the manufacturers unless you specifically opt out isn't helpful?
Guessing you didn't actually read the article?
You are such an annoying person, you know that?
Well the base model of the perodua axia sold in Malaysia probably fits your requirements as it does not come with central locking or even a radio.
What a random recommendation
I read somewhere one time that you can ask the dealership to rip out the modem thing for you so there's no internet. I wonder if there's a guide or manual to do it ourselves though. I recall it's towards the trunk area and sometimes near the top of the cabin.
The dealership won't do it but most independent workshops probably will. You might get into trouble with your warranty though if there's ever an electric issue, the disconnected unit will show up as a fault code during diagnostics.
Which at least in Germany should lead to failing vehicle inspections.
You can buy a 2023 Dacia Logan and it will still have none of the gizmos and knicknacks that track you and your behaviour.
Whether you call that a "modern" car is another debate, but for sure it's a recent one.
Even your 'tire pressure sensors' can be used to track individuals around a city. https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/04/tracking_vehicl.html
In 2008 they knew about this? Holy crap I need to do some research.
Your best bet for a "hardware switch" is reading the service manual to find which fuse controls the comms module, and pull it. Depending on the vehicle it may have other side effects.
Maybe we will get to the point where people are selling modchips for cars, like the OG PlayStation.
Not really, no. It's all super closed sourced so you will never know what's tracking you.
Maybe have them pull out the router at the dealership. I think they have to listen to your request. They may argue with you about it and be like "yeah but you won't have internet and all this cool stuff" but yeah whatever people have phones nowadays anyway.
I doubt what the dealer says is true. Intentionally or not. I don't really believe cars do us much net good anyway. Public transport and biking/walking for the win.
I am really curious now. I would never buy one but share, so also spread my fingerprint which isnt that bad.
But now I wonder, are there any electric cars that dont suck?
Couldn't you physically remove the antenna?
Of course. Just instal FOSS operating system for it.
None of it exists in Aus, except maybe BMW and Merc. No idea on Tesla