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Probably. Cars today are more connected - most of them have modems since the 2G wireless era (a lot of times you are probably unaware it's there.)

by devy 8y ago

woodrowbarlow 8y ago
and most of the modems are active, even if the owner has not activated the extra services which require the modem. if your manufacturer can remotely enable onstar or navigation or other internet-services in your car without requiring that you bring it back in to the service center for activation... then you have an IoT car.
ac29 8y ago
>most of them have modems Any source on this? Sounds interesting. There's only so many reasonable places you could put an antenna, given that vehicles are mostly metallic. So, if so many cars are have cell modems, they should be easy to find. I'm aware of OnStar, but that certainly doesn't cover "most" cars. GM has less than 20% of the US market [0]. [0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/239607/vehicle-sales-market-share-of-general-motors-in-the-united-states/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/239607/vehicle-sales-mar...
- petters 8y ago
  > There's only so many reasonable places you could put an antenna You have pretty good reception inside your car, right? So does your car.
- devy 8y ago
  > Any source on this? I have an engineer friend who works on the 2/3G modems for a German automotive brand. He told me anecdotally many years ago. And the public generally learned from the security breaches and vulnerability exposures. Here is one: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/security-flaws-found-in-2g-modems-used-by-bmw-ford-infiniti-and-nissan-cars/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/security-flaw... As you can see in the article above, by "most" I meant pretty much everybody. Just like gorilla glass are standard for smartphones, car connectivity is a standard feature on modern cars, and it doesn't cost much to the manufacturers to add that on - given the upstream auto suppliers producing these TCUs (telematics control unit) in a massive scale, which is also why all these car brands were affected (sourced from the same supplier.) And they can up-sell connectivity based subscription features with higher profit margin.
  - londons_explore 8y ago
    Surely the manufacturer still has to pay for cell service for that modem. That's typically billed on a per GB and per line basis. Would the manufacturer want to be paying a few dollars per car per month just in the hope the user might upgrade to OnStar later?
    - devy 8y ago
      It's usually a wholesale deal like what those MVNO are getting for the initial period of a new car and then car owners pay for the full service price later. The Big three wireless carriers want those IoT contacts as much as the automotive manufacturers, since those are also counted as subscribers and generating recurring revenues.

Probably. Cars today are more connected - most of them have modems since the 2G wireless era (a lot of times you are probably unaware it's there.)

by devy 8y ago

Probably. Cars today are more connected - most of them have modems since the 2G wireless era (a lot of times you are probably unaware it's there.)

woodrowbarlow 8y ago

and most of the modems are active, even if the owner has not activated the extra services which require the modem. if your manufacturer can remotely enable onstar or navigation or other internet-services in your car without requiring that you bring it back in to the service center for activation... then you have an IoT car.

ac29 8y ago

>most of them have modems Any source on this? Sounds interesting. There's only so many reasonable places you could put an antenna, given that vehicles are mostly metallic. So, if so many cars are have cell modems, they should be easy to find. I'm aware of OnStar, but that certainly doesn't cover "most" cars. GM has less than 20% of the US market [0]. [0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/239607/vehicle-sales-market-share-of-general-motors-in-the-united-states/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/239607/vehicle-sales-mar...

petters 8y ago
> There's only so many reasonable places you could put an antenna You have pretty good reception inside your car, right? So does your car.
devy 8y ago
> Any source on this? I have an engineer friend who works on the 2/3G modems for a German automotive brand. He told me anecdotally many years ago. And the public generally learned from the security breaches and vulnerability exposures. Here is one: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/security-flaws-found-in-2g-modems-used-by-bmw-ford-infiniti-and-nissan-cars/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/security-flaw... As you can see in the article above, by "most" I meant pretty much everybody. Just like gorilla glass are standard for smartphones, car connectivity is a standard feature on modern cars, and it doesn't cost much to the manufacturers to add that on - given the upstream auto suppliers producing these TCUs (telematics control unit) in a massive scale, which is also why all these car brands were affected (sourced from the same supplier.) And they can up-sell connectivity based subscription features with higher profit margin.
- londons_explore 8y ago
  Surely the manufacturer still has to pay for cell service for that modem. That's typically billed on a per GB and per line basis. Would the manufacturer want to be paying a few dollars per car per month just in the hope the user might upgrade to OnStar later?
  - devy 8y ago
    It's usually a wholesale deal like what those MVNO are getting for the initial period of a new car and then car owners pay for the full service price later. The Big three wireless carriers want those IoT contacts as much as the automotive manufacturers, since those are also counted as subscribers and generating recurring revenues.