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This was a good move on Tesla's part, but the dark side of this is that they could also "flip a switch" to reduce the range of cars. Presumably they could also

by elihu 9y ago

This was a good move on Tesla's part, but the dark side of this is that they could also "flip a switch" to reduce the range of cars. Presumably they could also disable the car entirely, disable the brakes or rev the motor at an unsafe time, or cause the battery to catch fire. All of this seems very implausible for a company like Tesla, but cars can last a very long time and companies and society change over those time scales. It's not hard to imagine an authoritarian government forcing an auto manufacturer to mess with the cars of protesters, journalists, or anyone else they don't like and to use the implicit threat to encourage compliance from everyone else. I'm not saying this is a likely outcome for anyone who buys an electric car, but it is new failure mode that didn't exist in older, non-internet-connected cars. It's kind of frustrating that there doesn't seem to be a middle ground between giving an enormous amount of power to supposedly-benevolent-for-now product manufactures or finding and disabling the car's antenna and not getting any updates again ever. (Hopefully the car doesn't just refuse to function if it's not able to phone home?)

em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
What they giveth, they can also taketh away.
jccooper 9y ago
You can remove the SIM card from a Tesla if you don't want it to phone home, and only connectivity functions are broken (obviously). This isn't a particularly satisfying solution, of course, but it's more recourse than I have against, say, Google shutting me down. You probably actually have implied (or express) warranty protection against the manufacturer screwing with your car. Certainly for the first four years, possibly even after that. I feel like software updates ought to come with their own implied warranty, though that's far from standard understanding right now. Beyond that, it's likely that anyone deliberately degrading your car, even the manufacturer, is a tort.
- steventhedev 9y ago
  Someone breaking into your house and stealing all your possessions will be prosecuted. So you have an implied warranty from the government for the security of your possessions. I bet you don't leave home without locking the door though.
- elihu 9y ago
  Taking out the SIM card sounds like a good idea if it's physically possible (i.e. the "sim card" isn't soldered down or integrated into some other non-removable device). Maybe the sensible thing for most IoT-enabled car owners is to get all the software updates for the first few years as the manufacturer works out all the major bugs, then disable the network when the manufacturer's attention has shifted to the next new thing and drive it until the wheels fall off.

by elihu 9y ago

em3rgent0rdr 9y ago

What they giveth, they can also taketh away.

jccooper 9y ago

You can remove the SIM card from a Tesla if you don't want it to phone home, and only connectivity functions are broken (obviously). This isn't a particularly satisfying solution, of course, but it's more recourse than I have against, say, Google shutting me down. You probably actually have implied (or express) warranty protection against the manufacturer screwing with your car. Certainly for the first four years, possibly even after that. I feel like software updates ought to come with their own implied warranty, though that's far from standard understanding right now. Beyond that, it's likely that anyone deliberately degrading your car, even the manufacturer, is a tort.

steventhedev 9y ago
Someone breaking into your house and stealing all your possessions will be prosecuted. So you have an implied warranty from the government for the security of your possessions. I bet you don't leave home without locking the door though.
elihu 9y ago
Taking out the SIM card sounds like a good idea if it's physically possible (i.e. the "sim card" isn't soldered down or integrated into some other non-removable device). Maybe the sensible thing for most IoT-enabled car owners is to get all the software updates for the first few years as the manufacturer works out all the major bugs, then disable the network when the manufacturer's attention has shifted to the next new thing and drive it until the wheels fall off.