I was reading a report on the challenges presented by connected cars, and a bit of data struck me: A connected car can generate up to about 25 GB of data every hour. That’s a lot of data! To put it in Napster-era MP3 size, that’s the data equivalent of downloading multi-platinum Nebraska alt-rock band 311’s hit song “Amber” a whopping 6,200 times in a single hour. That’s over 100 times in a minute.
But who owns that data? Who gets to sell that data? Where is it going? These are the concerns of regular people as well as the US government, which is planning to issue new rules on these connected cars later this year.
It’s feeling like a numbers-heavy TMD this morning, so let’s throw out two more numbers: $8 million and $65 billion. That’s what GM’s Cruise is reportedly paying to settle with the woman it dragged with one of its robotaxis and what Honda plans to invest in electrification.
Am I writing this next to a snoring David? Yes I am. [Ed Note: It’s a problem. -DT]
A Modern Car Produces A Ton Of Data
The folks over at S&P Global Mobility put out these reports full of data and analysis I regularly enjoy reading, especially when I find a little nugget of data buried in there that toggles some switch in my brain into the “ORLY” position. Today, it was this brief on connected cars.
If you’re not aware, a ‘connected car’ is basically any vehicle that can communicate data back to the automaker (or other third party). Most modern cars are connected cars, whether as simple as a Subaru that can report back crash data or as complex as a Tesla Model Y that’s sending a stream of your driving back to the automaker.
It’s a lot of data! Here’s how S&P describes it:
As cars transform into rolling data repositories, more lingering concerns over data privacy and security are beginning to hinder the full potential of connected cars, which collect a lot more data than expected. A typical connected vehicle can generate nearly 25 GB of data per hour and collect information from more than 100 different datapoints, thanks to embedded features including geolocation and navigation, companion apps, biometrics, voice recognition, on-board diagnostics and driver assistance.
Additionally, cars can collect data in the background via cameras, microphones, sensors and connected phones and apps. Sensitive data captured from connected vehicles can include personal identifiable information (PII), location, behavior and financial data from customers, as well as intellectual property related to the vehicle and services provided.
The rest of the article goes on to talk about the risks associated with holding that data, and we’ve already seen automakers admit to sharing driving information with insurance companies. Some of this is the cost of modern life. We get cheaper electronics with the implicit promise that the makers of those products get to squeeze as much info out of it as possible for their own financial gain.
I don’t love this and, while I think we sort of understand this with phones and Alexas, I do wonder if people think about their cars as the ultimate data-sharing devices. Let this be a reminder, then, if you have a modern car it’s probably ratting on you.
Connected Cars Are ‘Really Serious Stuff’
In addition to massive tariffs, the Feds are planning to clamp down on connected cars. This started back in February when everyone panicked about Chinese vehicles and the Biden Administration said it was going to learn something about the vehicles. According to this Reuters report, it has!
“We expect to have a rule out this fall,” Raimondo told a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday, adding: “The national security risks are quite significant … We decided to take action because this is really serious stuff.”
Raimondo said connected vehicles “have thousands of sensors, thousands of chips – they’re controlled by software, which is coming from Beijing in the case of Chinese-made cars. They know where the driver goes, what the driving patterns are, what you’re saying in your car. It’s a lot of data around U.S. persons that goes right back to Beijing.”
This is all true and I think it’s important we are careful about data we send to Beijing, but I also think we should be careful about data we send anywhere. It would be nice to have a rule that covers all data sent to any cities or automakers or companies.
Report: Cruise To Pay Woman Dragged By Robotaxi At Least $8 Million
A Chevy Bolt robotaxi deployed by GM’s Cruise unit was involved in an incident last year that resulted in serious injuries to a pedestrian. Specifically, the woman was struck by a Nissan being driven by a human and then collided with a Cruise Robotaxi. Uncertain of what to do, the robotaxi pulled over to the side of the street, unaware it was dragging the woman with it. This led to the unit shutting down all driverless operations, temporarily.
With robotaxi service set to resume soon, we’re now getting a little information on what’s happened to the victim in the months since the action. Specifically, Fortune reports that the woman has reached an $8 million to $12 million settlement with Cruise.
The victim has decided she would rather remain anonymous and therefore we don’t know much about her other than that she’s now out of the hospital.
Honda To Spend $65 Billion The Rest Of This Decade On Electrification
Honda’s sole electric car in the United States for a while is going to be the Prologue EV, which wasn’t even developed by Honda. The Ultium-based Prologue is more GM engineering than Honda engineering. And while EV sales are leveling off a touch, most automakers still see broader EV adoption in the future.
It’s therefore sensible that Honda, now swimming in yen, is going to up its spend on electrification for the rest of the decade.
Per Reuters:
Japan’s Honda Motor, opens new tab pledged to double its electrification and software investment to about $65 billion over the 10 years running through the 2030 business year, it said on Thursday.
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe told a press conference the automaker planned to spend a total of 10 trillion yen ($64.88 billion) on electrification and software over the period, doubling the amount it had pledged in April 2022.
What’s the point of having the money if you can’t enjoy spending it?
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
This song is a lot smoother than I remembered, but since I made the joke at the top of the post I had to include it. Man, that dude’s hair is straight Wendy’s frozen dairy desert. Also… is that Nicole Sherzinger in the video?
The Big Question
Do you know all the data your car is sharing at any moment?
Topshot images: Toyota; Dmitry/stock.adobe.com
Hi Matt,
I’ve read through all the comments thus far, and one thing that popped out is pretty simple…
We don’t know if our cars are sharing data.
It would be a huge service to the world if the Autopian did the research for us and let us know which cars were sharing data. I assume the list of what data is being shared my be considerably larger, so maybe that is too much.
BUT, I forgot, honestly, that the 3G network was disabled, and subsequently those cars aren’t sharing any data. As such, it might be pretty easy to categorize which vehicles are and are not based on that. Add caveats that if your phone is connected via Bluetooth, then you are sharing data “secondhandedly”, if that is a word.
Is this possible or too much?
I’m pretty certain both of my cars share data. My 2019 Benz definitely does. Just because I refuse to subscribe to the app to track my car and see the monitoring reports doesn’t mean they aren’t still generated and sent to the MB servers. I’m pretty sure my Ford collects and sends the same information, though I haven’t really looked at the app. I assume that any vehicle produced in the last 5 years or maybe longer does the same.
It would also be nice to know if/how to disable this feature too.
Mozilla Foundation has been working on this. Both general information and some brand-specific details can be found here: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/categories/cars/
Yes. Zero information. It’s obd 1 so I can’t even read the minimal data it has without a special scanner. I also plan on keeping it that way as long as it’s still legal to drive a non-connected ICE vehicle. (Probably not much longer.)
Not to have a David moment here, but who the frick is Nicole Sherzinger?
All I know is that It’s Getting Hot In Here.
EDIT. Wait, that leads you to Nelly, that’s not the right one.
Anyway, I can’t be clever…. Lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls, early 2000s.
Pretty sure she’s Lewis Hamilton’s ex-girlfriend.
You promised us you would be writing this from the lazy river this morning. I feel cheated, unless DT is sleeping in the lazy river, at which point, thank you for staying by him to make sure he doesn’t drown.
Shouldn’t he be sleeping in an Aztek down by that lazy river?
Haha true. I am very much looking forward to seeing what shenanigans take place with him living in a bright yellow Aztek, though I assume it will be in the Galpin parking lot not on the streets of LA. I still hope the crew gets together to plan some Top Gear style pranks for him
Like putting the car on top of a building? Or mounting it to a giant pole? Oo oo, flip it upside down, while he is in it, so he has to sleep on the roof? Maybe turn it on it’s side? Surround it with fart machines? Leave filled catfood bowls around the full perimeter? OMG, so many possiblities.
I was thinking much smaller… Plastic wrapping the whole exterior except for the sunroof so he has to climb out that way, the cat food would work, we haven’t gotten any Catopian updates in a while, so restarting that thread could be fun with a whole new litter. Loving the fart machines too!
Does Mitsuoka make a body kit for the Aztek?
Oh man that would be interesting, but would probably result in a much better looking vehicle so I hope not. But I am sure there is some garish, absolutely awful body kit out there they could slap on it! Throw it on some 22″s while we’re at it
Mitsuoka uses the Aztek to do their own take on the Multipla.
Yeah, my question was: who is on which coast??? Or are BOTH of you away from home??
MH mentioned it yesterday, I think it might have been in the discord that they are both in Palm Springs for different media events that happened to overlap.
“Do you know all the data your car is sharing at any moment?”
Yes, every single bit of it, and it’s all through connectivity I’ve added and mostly anonymized. My vehicle can’t report anything on it’s own, and while I’ve got an Android head unit for Car Play, there isn’t any connection to the vehicle beyond power and audio for it to harvest anything beyond what my phone can provide. If I ever get time I Want to dig in deeper on the radio OS itself, and see what APIs it tries to reach out to, but it’s not connected directly, so without the phone being there it can’t talk at all.
And just think of all the energy used solely used monitor our driving and/ or company profit! And it would get even worse with self driving. All current data storage accounts for 0.3 percent of our global emissions. If that average self driving electric future car uses 840 watts of energy per day in the production and transmission of data. Get a billion of cars together (currently 1.5 billion), and we’re equal to the current energy demands of all data storage right now. Or about as much as Argentina (Source: https://energypost.eu/will-the-computing-power-needed-for-self-driving-cars-create-a-carbon-emissions-problem-akin-to-data-centres/). Nothing says being serious about going Green like adding a whole new Argentina of greenhouses. Obviously, this would be different if we changed energy production to green sources, seems unlikely.
I pretty regularly wonder if the enormous power requirements of a lot of modern tech is really worth the (often minimal) benefits it provides, but good luck explaining that to a cryptobro.
I presume my cars share a lot of data (particularly my Tesla), but I don’t particularly care. I read a lot of stories about the horrors of data sharing, but most focus on the amount of data shared and not problems caused by data sharing.
So far, the only concerns I have read are that data will be shared with insurance companies to influence insurance rates (I already do this voluntarily to get a discount), with law enforcement to enforce laws (I don’t commit crimes, but if I did I would ride a stolen bicycle to the crime scene and leave my phone at home because I’m not an idiot), or companies that are trying to sell you stuff (I can always not purchase said stuff).
I can see why sharing data with a hostile foreign country is a potential concern, but I think that is probably overblown. I’m not sure what the Red Army could possibly do with my driving data. Is it really that harmful if a Chinese bureaucrat knows I frequently drive to pick up Slurpees or Taco Bell? I’m not an expect on military strategery, but that doesn’t sound like actionable intelligence.
The paranoia about data sharing has always struck me as a bit narcissistic. Like most people, I’m not important or interesting. My car might generate and share a lot of data, but no one is using that data in a way that substantially harms me. I doubt people are paying attention to me at all.
You state that the “paranoia about data sharing” seems narcissistic. I would argue that the assumption that your own data is not monetized against you is arrogant. Regarding targeted ads, you say “I can always not purchase said stuff,” which fails to recognize just how much influence advertizing has on your beliefs and subsequent actions. When it comes to commercial consumption, that can obviously be harmful (e.g., marketing addictive substances to vulnerable populations).
But your (by “your” I mean “everyone’s”) data is also used to determine what you’re going to see everytime you google something. It’s used to dictate what content you are exposed to on social media. Your data is used to customize your entire internet experience, and the goal is always to keep your eyes on the screen as long as possible. The results have been disastrous for mental health, political discourse, and society as a whole.
I don’t find your argument persuasive. I wasn’t trying to imply that my data is not shared or that I am not subjected to targeted ads (I can see why you would interpret my comment that way, though). I obviously do get targeted ads. On occasion, I have purchased something from what was presumably a targeted ad. I’m not sure why it is harmful for me to see advertising and conclude the product in question is something I want. I still have free will to purchase or not purchase that product. Advertising doesn’t turn me into a mindless automaton.
I also (unfortunately) see a lot of political advertising. I still have the ability to think critically and evaluate political messages aimed at me. Sometimes I am persuaded by political arguments. I don’t see that as problematic because sometimes political arguments bring up valid points. I don’t see being unpersuadable or avoiding all political messages as a positive. It is a problem that people vote based on sound bites, but that isn’t me.
I obviously agree that targeting people with addictions is abhorrent. If that isn’t already illegal, it should be.
Yeah, your entire comment displays the arrogance I was talking about. “These things don’t affect me. I am above the influence.” It’s great that you are applying critical thinking and skepticism to information you receive on the internet (pretty sure most people don’t!). But the fact is that a lot of that information is fed to you and the moment your eyes are on it, it affects your thinking in ways you may not be aware of. Maybe we just disagree on the extent to which that is true. Which is fine.
Cars are very cool though, eh? I think we can agree on that.
Honestly, I think this would be a much more productive and interesting discussion if we talked about this in person. My opinions on this subject are much more nuanced than I am able to express in this format. I know that advertisement affects how people think, but I also don’t think that is a modern phenomenon. I also think people have far more agency than they are given credit for.
As for me, I actively seek out information from sources I disagree with. I also try my best to understand my own biases and the biases of others. I am aware that people are trying to persuade me in subtle ways, and I acknowledge sometimes they are successful. However, I don’t think it is arrogant for me to say that I am a critical thinker. I also don’t think it is arrogant for me to think I am more in control of my life than the average person.
We can agree to disagree on this. I respect your opinion.
Also, cars are very cool.
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink”.
Arguing with a 3-year-old only leads to a tantrum.
If an attacker knows where a lot of people are going and what they would do, that has a certain value for a military strike
Yeah, but sporting events and concerts are advertised publicly.
True. But also better protected
Not from a true military strike. Politicians are talking about China, not al Qaeda. If a foreign power fires a cruise missile at the super bowl, event security is worthless.
When China starts bombing Taco Bells in Florida suburbs, I guess I’m screwed.
It’s naive to think that the data collected is completely accurate and used appropriately.
How about this – Your house gets swatted because you are listed on the dark web as someone who goes to abortion clinics. Turns out that the liquor store you stop at once in a while is right next door. Your car’s location data was hacked from the manufacturer and some unscrupulous religious types found it on the dark web and decided to take Gods work into their own hands.
This type of stuff happens every single day. It’s like roulette whether it will affect you or not at any given point. And with the current state of politics, it’s continuing to get worse.
I’m not that concerned with what major companies do with my data. It can be an annoyance at worst. But once it hits the web there’s no guessing what will be done with it. So, my issue isn’t what is being collected, but rather that you can’t trust them to keep it safe.
So keep it out of their hands is the best you can do. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Indeed, friend of mine had the cops at 6am in front of his apartment and taken away in handcuffs. Was difficult to explain to his then new girlfriend. Detectives had followed his car and mistaken him. It was the neighbor below in the same house who a bigger cannabis production facility in the basement.
That doesn’t sound like it was because his car reported on him though. It sounds like the police were surveilling the building and made a mistake.
“How about this – Your house gets swatted because you are listed on the dark web as someone who goes to abortion clinics… This type of stuff happens every single day. It’s like roulette whether it will affect you or not at any given point. “
Come on. That is ridiculous. Give me any evidence that this stuff occurs regularly enough that the average person should be concerned.
I’ve been contacted twice by the FBI for different issues because the data they got from a subpoena was flawed. Data from my internet provider who collects usage data (who would have guessed?) Luckily I wasn’t home when they came to my door so I was able to talk to them over the phone.
Here is another one I know someone involved in:
Swatting: The new normal in ransomware extortion tactics • The Register
Keep your eyes open and you’ll see it happening. I deal with data incidents for a living. Bad actors are exceptionally creative and resourceful. It’s impressive.
I have been through this shit. Twice. BTW, insurance cos. will pull this shit also if you piss them off enough. Too much info is out there, and too many fuck heads have access to it.
And just because one is paranoid, does not mean someone is not looking to fuck with you. Way too many naive folks walking around here with their heads in the sand.
Yeah, I once had a man show up at my door asking if I knew about his wife coming to my house all the time. He said he saw her GPS location and it showed she was here quite often. She apparently works nearby.
Now I had not owned the house for all that long, so I guess it is possible she used to come here. My neighbor suggested infidelity was involved with my house being on the market.
I’m not sure what this guy’s deal was. He thankfully believed me when I said I don’t know what he is talking about. I suppose it could have led to him accusing me of banging his wife and who knows where that would have gone. He actually made small talk with me for a bit and I sympathized with him worrying about his wife stepping out on him, and he left. I have one video saved from my doorbell camera…in case this guy came back. He never did.
Point is, who knows what he was looking at. Might have been bad GPS data. Maybe she was coming here and screwing the guy who used to live here. Luckily it didn’t end up being an ugly problem.
Did you at least get her number?
And maybe it was even about his wife. Not about (for example) casing your house to see if you were home, or whether it was worth burglarizing. I got an email invoice yesterday (3 of them, actually) from Geek Squad that I owed them $349.99, and providing me a helpful phone number to call if there is a problem. I’m sure the nice person who answers the phone will straighten it out and “replace” the money in my bank account, if I just give him the account information.
I’m in a similar boat in that any data shared by my vehicle wouldn’t be particularly harmful to me. But to write data privacy off as the paranoid concern of narcissists based on that is, in of itself, narcissistic. There are plenty of people out there who can and are harmed by having their data shared even when they’ve done nothing wrong. Maybe it’s someone who’s a political dissident. it could be the victim of stalking. It could be another avenue for identity theft.
And then there’s the smaller things that compound into larger things. You may be good at ignoring targeted ads. But what happens when the data collected on you is used to inform an algorithm that feeds you selected media and news that presents a misleading narrative on the world around you? Or when said algorithm feeds a family member weight loss ads that help develop an eating disorder because your car was parked at the gym five days a week.
I guess “narcissistic” was not the right thing to say. I would remove that line if I still could edit that comment.
There are legitimate concerns about data usage (identity theft and stalking victims are good examples), but the concerns I hear seem exaggerated. Some people interpret data generation and sharing as the government/big business/etc. knowing every detail about your daily life. One example is the Edward Snowden thing where it was reported that the government was spying on US citizens. The reality was much more nuanced where aggregated data was used to look for specific trends. From everything I have read, most data is aggregated, and no one is paying attention to what you are doing throughout your daily life. A search engine using your search history to give you specific ads is very different than someone at google actively watching you.
Also, I find some data sharing beneficial. Again, if targeted advertising finds products I like and end up buying, I don’t mind that. A few examples I can think of are my Macbook and the tonneau cover on my truck. Both were products I was considering that I ended up buying after seeing a targeted ad that those products were on sale. I am very happy with those purchases. Another example of positive data sharing is youtube. I have found a lot of excellent aviation and automotive content by watching recommended videos.
Like anything else, data sharing has its positives and negatives. I still think people exaggerate what data is shared and how it is used, though.
It’s unfortunate that many of the loudest voices are also the most unreasonable. The guy screaming on [Cable “News” Channel] about trackers in the vaccines makes it very easy to dismiss concerns about data privacy.
While I agree the threats of a connected car are relatively minor for most people, we should do a lot more to give people control over their own data. You don’t have your own personal NSA Agent, but all that anonymized data can be used for all sorts of positive, nefarious, and TBD means. With the advancements of modern data models and *sigh* AI, that “anonymized” data can be used in more and more targeted ways for reasons we couldn’t even imagine just a couple years ago. Even in the past couple years, we’ve seen these systems help swing elections, aid in targeting protestors, and even contribute to ethnic cleansing.
You don’t know what the data will be used for, even if you trust the holder. In the 1930s the Netherlands maintained records on citizens that included religion. It was never a problem. Until Germany occupied them during WW2. The Germans found that data very useful.
Some people might say you’re crazy. But, some f’d up U.S. states were just trying to subpoena medical records from hospitals (in other states btw) so that they could bring charges against people for abortions. Something that was supposedly protected by the constitution for 50 years. So, yeah, not that far off.
And the kinds of data the ubiquitous “they” can use to come to conclusions is mind boggling. Over a decade ago, Target had determined a way to accurately predict if a customer was pregnant, her approximate due date, the sex of her baby, and send baby-related coupons accordingly based on nothing more than a credit card number and simple purchases like “lotion and a large purse”. Their targeted analytics were good enough that they famously narc’ed on a teen girl to her dad.
Hell, even the aggregated data can be used a lot of ways that have horrible knock-on effects. Politicians already change their message for the region/population to whom they’re speaking. Advertisers who know only generalized data for a demographic can still use that to craft campaigns that target vulnerable populations.
But it’s difficult, because that data can also be used for good. Ensuring that underserved populations get access to services, for example.
And, of course, we all feel like we’re beyond being targeted using our data. Advertisements only present us with products and we don’t make decisions based on them, no matter how pervasive and persuasive they are. We vote based on the issues that matter to us, and those aren’t influenced by the constant noise around those issues. We can all stop browsing social media and shopping websites whenever we want. We are all in full control of our lives. All of the data that shows otherwise is a result of other people’s lack of self-control. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go consume the media that I keep hearing about, but I decided sounded interesting on my own.
I just picked up a 2020 Bolt EV. During the sales process I actually read a few lines of the “don’t read this legal agreement because it is too long to understand-agreement” for On-Star and the Chevy App. It included the agreement that Chevy can sell any and all of my information to anyone they decide to enter into agreement with. I declined all to everything I could – but I am still not confident they aren’t still collecting my info.
I mentioned the issues with Chevy selling customer data to the sales-child (I swear he looked 17 years old) and he had no idea and agreed it was super shady.
I honestly didn’t want a car that new, due to connectivity issues (and too much in the damn screens) but the Bolt was the best option for fun that my wife can drive too (no manual for her)
All that said – I am aware that google has all my data. I have a google phone, Gmail, and use google maps to navigate all over the state for work. I am not keen on it, so i actively reduce the amount of access points my data has to the market. No Ring doorbells or wifi baby monitors or alexas inviting people into my home.
It sure seems like the politicians are trying to make China seem like our nemesis lately. The rhetoric from Washington about China is just about as paranoid as it used to be about the Soviet Union. I’m not saying China is looking out for our best interest; they obviously look out for their own. However, I don’t think China is harvesting data from cars via chips created there. Why bother with cars when they already make all of our phones? They can’t tap specific chips because they don’t know where the chips will end up. Aggregated data might be interesting, but really doesn’t tell them anything that isn’t otherwise available to be purchased without the effort. It’s like the NSA getting data from our cell phone companies (they do); there isn’t much they can do with it because there’s just too much to search through.
By all means we should monitor what China is doing and avoid providing them with information that could compromise our national security, but I don’t think them spying on us via connected cars is anything but a political talking point. We should all be more protective of our data because there are real risks, like scammers and thieves, not because China may learn that Americans drive trucks and speed a lot.
Look at that, an upside to the 3G phase out :p
Most of my vehicles are not connected thankfully, but I’m sure our mach e is doing all kinds of ratting on us. That said, I figure no vehicle can really rat on us that much more than our smartphones are capable of (I suppose they do have more cameras). So while it is indeed an important issue, I suspect for most people the connectedness of their vehicle is a moot point due to the smartphone in their pocket.
The two newest cars in my fleet are a ’14 Expedition and a ’13 Mustang, and neither have any onboard telematics capability. The only way they can send data out is through a cell phone connected via bluetooth, or if a dealer/technician pulls the black box data via the OBD2 port. That’s about the maximum amount of data sharing I’m willing to accept, so it looks like that’s the newest generation of vehicle I’ll be able to buy unless I change my mind on that topic (and others), or if these new hinted-at federal rules carry a *lot* of teeth, which I doubt extremely.
I often wonder what a modern “most analog possible new car” would look like, and still be able to comply with all current regulations? And if built, would anyone buy one if it wouldn’t unlock the doors and turn on the seat heaters through your cell phone, etc. etc.? I would, but I’ve been convinced (gaslit?) over many years now that I, as ‘an enthusiast’, am a vanishingly small minority and completely unrepresentative of the car buying population at large. Maybe still a big enough ‘small’ niche to make a mass produced product viable – Mazda still sells the Miata even though they only sell ~10,000 of them a year…
“It seems to me, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.” –Isaac Asimov (Foundation’s Edge – 1982)
The foundation series was amazing.
Yes, I watched it on Apple TV!
/dodging thrown vegetables
Honestly though, I read the series several times back as a kid, and again a couple of years ago, and it is one of the best Science Fiction series ever.
The Apple TV thing was a complete travesty. It not only changed the story to something unrecognizable, but even worse, it makes the exact opposite point. Psychohistory in the books was about predicting trends in large numbers of people, so that any one person didn’t really matter. Society could be predicted. The TV show instead specifically made it about a couple of hero characters that somehow live through long periods of time so that their heroism can shape events and save civilization. It was insulting to the Foundation series.
Thank you!!
Why did Apple (or whoever directed/wrote/created) think that we couldn’t move on from characters as time moved on, measured in centuries? Rather than being story-driven they just made it about the individual characters.
It’s beautifully shot and produced but why are the Cleons such a heavy character in these? I know the clone thing shows up in later books (after Asimov’s death but approved by the family/estate) but it still was all about larger, societal evolution not individuals.
They really lost the plot but I still do enjoy it for the aesthetics. My wife doesn’t really enjoy watching it with me, what with all the yelling and throwing things at the tv and whatnot.
I have told others that if you can forget the books, if you can pretend it’s a completely different story, then the aesthetics and production, and into season 2, the story, make it a pretty decent show.
It just has nothing (!) to do with Asimov’s story.
I’m waiting to hear that the driver of the Nissan that hit the woman that was dragged by the Cruise is suing the woman for half of the settlement.
Why you ask? Because there is money involved. A lot of money.
My cars broadcast to everyone within visual range that I engage in painfully wrongheaded automotive acquisitions but other than that, nothing.
my current car and motorcycle are pre-wireless connectivity, so they aren’t sharing anything.
mom just got a new corolla hatch though, and I got a taste of how extremely online they are now, which I can’t say I’m excited to have to deal with all of that in a daily driver.
though TBH, I am the most upset that my iPod classic isn’t going to work anymore if I have to get something that new.
When I finally get an electric car that can customize the sound it makes, I’m going to use the sound of an old 56kbaud modem connecting to the internet.
Honda should just buy Canoo. They have a handful of vehicles on the road and really just need money plus a less crazy CEO to get production going. Their current market cap is under $200 million.
When I first got my Fiesta ST it would occasionally ask to run a diagnostic on the car and then call a phone number using my phone paired via Bluetooth to 56k modem info to the mothership and then it would email a report of how various things were functioning, but I feel like they took that out in an update within a couple years.
Both my current cars share (no?) data. The e-golf ran on the 3g network, which is now dead, so nothing to connect to. The 2013 GX460 is not connected to a network, however there is some type of 911 help associated with it, so I’m honestly not sure what could be being sent, but do not believe it is even functional at the moment. At this moment in time I do not want anything close to a Tesla’s reporting abilities. From seeing detail of their driver safety score, I am certain the info will only be used to punish people financially. That being said at some point insurance companies will charge a massive premium for unconnected cars, because they can’t track every WOT event, or require a tattler box for coverage.
My car shares no data because it was not built in this century. Also, turnabout is fair play. I suggest anyone having any kind if interaction with car dealers and car companies record everything and upload it to the internet and appropriate authorities, or better yet, sell it to the media. Maybe there’ll be nothing incriminating in that data, but maybe there will, who can tell?
I do know all the data my car shares. It is none. None data good sir. And I want to keep it that way somehow.
Nope. I don’t know what it shares or with whom. I’m with you on a desire for real action on the issue. Whoever gets my data, be it China, Amazon, Chevy, or even this site, should have limits on what they can gather, how they can use it, and how it must be stored.
I’m not one of the people so privacy-minded as to opt out of smartphones and new cars. I don’t even use a VPN that often. And I do understand that I am the product, not the customer, on social media and much of the internet at large. But we’ve seen massive breaches. We know companies are using the data in ways we didn’t agree to. There should be controls on that data and penalties for misuse. No matter who has the data.
Everything that can be used to collect data will. We’re not stopping that. But we can do our best to ensure that data is responsibly used and maintained.
A VPN doesn’t really hide your data, it just changes who can see it. Which is fine if you trust your VPN provider more than your ISP.
Or when you’re connected to a public WiFi.
True. I’m just trying to make the point that I’m not particularly concerned with privacy and still think we need stricter controls. I trade my location to Google for the use of maps, knowing they’ll also use it for advertising purposes and aggregated data. I use some social media. I do some online shopping. I trade my phone number for gas discounts (and even use the stupid Sinclair phone app for the discount).
I’m not the person who’s going to say companies can’t have data. I find the trades are often worth it. But I do think that there should be controls to prevent abuse and protect consumers.
I know nothing should shock me at this point, but the lack of data protection laws in the US still kinda shocks me. If the Chinese technology issue is the impetus for getting some protections passed, that would be great (assuming those protections are comprehensive and not just “China bad”).
It’s bad when China does it, capitalism when US based companies do it.
Oh I totally agree that this attitude is pervasive, and I think it would make its way into any legislation.
A lot of things are. I’m guessing if you went down the street asking Americans what they thought of Chinese schools leading children in a loyalty oath, a lot of people would find that outrageous. And many of those people wouldn’t blink an eye at an American school’s pledge of allegiance.
Google is just gathering data for your convenience, but Chinese companies are gathering data for the CCP.
If we could post images, I’d post Homer Simpson saying “but when I do it, it’s cute!”
100% ! The pledge is a great example of this, I was just talking about that the other day. When I was a kid I always said “under dog”, even then I did not like the religious aspect of it. I was well into adulthood when the rest of the indoctrination finally wore off and I realized that the USA is in fact not the greatest nation on earth.
I like my “dumb” cars. It’ll be a shame when they’re too old and I have to buy one of these rolling robots. Right now, I have two 2016s and they’re just new enough to have modern safety features and equipment but not over-the-top whiz-bang connected features I don’t want/will never use. My phone already does that stuff for me.
This is what makes me want to pre-emptively buy a last model year Dodge Caravan as a standby for my 2016 Grand Caravan. It was the stupidest late-model-ish van one could buy.
Yep. My two 2016 Mazdas (CX-5 for my wife, 6 for me) both have Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and satellite radio and can have factory navigation. They have airbags and stability control and all that. Good safety/crash test ratings, etc. But they don’t do the “E.T. phone home” crap that I don’t desire.
I’m have a hard time believing that’s typical. Perhaps the operative word here is “can”. I rather doubt that they “do”. That is a literal shit ton of data that would play havok with a cell phone network if every modern car out there was constantly cranking out data at that rate.
Or maybe it’s a burst rate. As in, that’s the speed at which data is pushed, but not the actual amount of data being transmitted.
I read it as merely the amount *generated*, not necessarily as the amount *transmitted*.
There’s probably a ton in there that is only relevant in certain situations.
That’s correct, that’s how I intended it.
Upon rereading, yes, that’s exactly what it says, too! No mention of transmission. I guess I can put my tinfoil hat away…
Did you know that Jack White is the backup vocals for “Danger! High Voltage”?
And a song that someone should reallllly use for a new hybrid car commercial is “Plug In Baby”- Muse
I love Electric Six and didn’t realize that. Thanks for sharing the fun bit of music knowledge!
When I lived in Denver, a certain Karaoke host would end the night by singing Electric Six’s Gay Bar. Good memories.