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What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

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Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#201

Post by SoftTalker »

BigGreenJorts wrote: post #177
hnlmorg wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And an EV without smarts is legitimately just a golf cart. Not really no. There’s a gulf of difference between a car and a golf buggy. And we can prove that by turning your argument the other way and saying: if that were true then ICE vehicles would just be petrol-powered golf carts. Clearly that isn’t even a remotely accurate way of describing your average car

I mean, besides shape and speed, what is the difference that most people are concerned about. I wasn't aware that golf carts are all electric. I just thought of a golf cart as a car used specifically to traverse golf courses and resorts.

> I wasn't aware that golf carts are all electric.

They aren't. Many have gasoline engines.

But "glorified golf cart" was a common dismissal of early (generally pre-Tesla) EV efforts.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#202

Post by SoftTalker »

rcpt wrote: post #94
salawat wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your e-bike shouldn't be limited. You should get on that.

You're right. Because my e-bike is of negligible danger to others. But cars kill tens of thousands every year. Speed limits and red lights being on the honor system isn't working. Luckily technology, like the little GPS tracker in the article, can fix it.

An e-bike going 40mph (or even slower) can easily kill you or someone else.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#203

Post by SoftTalker »

prmoustache wrote: post #127

> Unlike the Peugeot, the Opel has gadgets - quite a few of them. It is funny because that Opel IS a Peugeot. Same group (Stellantis), and same mechanicals as the contemporary Peugeot 208 with only minor aesthetics and branding modifications.

I thought Opel was a GM marque?

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#204

Post by [deleted] »

afh1 wrote: post #25

The scary part is not the GPS installed by the fleet company that previously owned the car, which in all likelihood was just forgotten there, but the GPS and eSIM that comes with most (all?) new cars and that in most (all?) new cars cannot be disabled. Apart from privacy concerns of your data being used or sold by the car vendor, government outreach is also a concern. There was a bill announced in the US for all new…

[deleted]

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#205

Post by glitchc »

quailfarmer wrote: post #144
Etheryte wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric cars are essentially black boxes. When you take it apart, you have largely no idea what any of the chips do, even if you chase down what they're connected to. Is this the infotainment system or is it the infotainment system and a data gathering system that sends all my data off seas? There's no way to know. Old cars don't have that problem. Here's an engine, here's a gearbox, add a radio if you'd like, but b…

They’re not black boxes, you’re just not an electrical engineer. They’re actually way simpler than ICE in a bunch of ways that really improve reliability. We just need to develop a collective understanding of how electric drivetrains work, the kind of understanding that we had developed in previous generations for ICE cars

Unless you have the complete source code available to you, this is a patently false statement.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#206

Post by pdonis »

rcpt wrote: post #94
salawat wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your e-bike shouldn't be limited. You should get on that.

You're right. Because my e-bike is of negligible danger to others. But cars kill tens of thousands every year. Speed limits and red lights being on the honor system isn't working. Luckily technology, like the little GPS tracker in the article, can fix it.

> Speed limits and red lights being on the honor system isn't working.

Speak for yourself. I don't need a nanny monitor in my car to drive safely. Nor do the vast majority of drivers. There are about 150 billion cars in the world. Only a very tiny fraction of them kill people. And punishing all the people who do drive responsibly because of the mistakes of the tiny fraction of drivers who don't is getting things backwards. The consequences should be on the people who do kill others with their cars, not on the people who don't.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#207

Post by BurningFrog »

_ea1k wrote: post #196
afh1 wrote: post #25

The scary part is not the GPS installed by the fleet company that previously owned the car, which in all likelihood was just forgotten there, but the GPS and eSIM that comes with most (all?) new cars and that in most (all?) new cars cannot be disabled. Apart from privacy concerns of your data being used or sold by the car vendor, government outreach is also a concern. There was a bill announced in the US for all new…

Government overreach is the big thing that I'm worried about. All of the overreactions to adas is really heavily driving it. At some point, they will have to realize that the same attention systems used for adas could be used all of the time. Given that there are hundreds of deaths each year due to inattention, it'd be almost irresponsible not to look into it. But a lot of people won't like where that leads.

What is "adas"?

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#208

Post by BurningFrog »

brailsafe wrote: post #104
6SixTy wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem with gathering data off cars is that it's really not that effective vs your phone. A car realistically just sits around doing nothing 80% of the time, while a phone is with you 24/7, likely powered 24/7, and already has telemetry mechanisms built in. An old car with someone using a phone probably still collects the same data as you assert. And an EV without smarts is legitimately just a golf cart.

> A car realistically just sits around doing nothing 80% of the time A bit besides the point, but isn't it wild how inherently wasteful personal cars are? Every time the thought crosses my mind to get another one, if I don't stop at the cost, I stop at the fact that I'll have this giant chunk of metal sitting idle on the street or somewhere else nearly all the time. It'd be useful in an extreme minority of cases (for…

Selfdriving taxis solves much of the 98% unused car problem.

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#209

Post by [deleted] »

hoistbypetard wrote: post #10

> “can I get free data from the SIM card embedded in the device that I now technically own?” That seems like the next-most-interesting question now that you've determined what the device is. Possibly followed closely by "can I use that free-to-me data in a fun way that might teach the people who installed the SIM to deactivate their devices when they sell them?" i.e. Could you send and receive enough on the connectio…

[deleted]

Re: What does this button do? – My new car has a mysterious and undocumented switch

#210

Post by jaredhallen »

brailsafe wrote: post #104
6SixTy wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem with gathering data off cars is that it's really not that effective vs your phone. A car realistically just sits around doing nothing 80% of the time, while a phone is with you 24/7, likely powered 24/7, and already has telemetry mechanisms built in. An old car with someone using a phone probably still collects the same data as you assert. And an EV without smarts is legitimately just a golf cart.

> A car realistically just sits around doing nothing 80% of the time A bit besides the point, but isn't it wild how inherently wasteful personal cars are? Every time the thought crosses my mind to get another one, if I don't stop at the cost, I stop at the fact that I'll have this giant chunk of metal sitting idle on the street or somewhere else nearly all the time. It'd be useful in an extreme minority of cases (for…

Sounds like maybe you don't need a car. That's good for you, and I truly mean that. But that doesn't mean it's the case for everyone. It's a big, diverse world out there.
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