Comment by fn-mote
1 year ago
> In recent years, automakers [...] have started offering optional features in their connected-car apps that rate people’s driving.
At least the programs are (currently) opt-in.
This amusing anecdote is buried:
> One driver lamented having data collected during a “track day,” while testing out the Corvette’s limits on a professional racetrack. > [...] he was denied auto insurance by seven companies [...]
There is another commenter further up that says they had to opt out on a Toyota and the rep acted like he didn't know until the opt out text was read verbatim.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39667268
I just purchased a Camry Hybrid from a Toyota dealership. The operator tried to tell me that "because I financed it they cannot turn off analytics." I had not financing, paid cash.
Pressing the SOS button to cancel [as sticker suggested] was met with so much difficulty that (while the operator was on the line still) I found the fuse panel and pulled out `DCS` to disconnect the call/tracking. This ended our trasmission.
But are they really optional? I can’t imagine that the telematics link is going unused for the value it provides (i.e. crowd-sourcing for speed and road map data).
The worst part is that assumptions about who’s driving the vehicle.
I would be willing to bet even if you told the insurance companies it was totally legal on a professional race track -- they'd say "Nope, we still don't want to insure someone that takes his car on professional race tracks like that."
> At least the programs are (currently) opt-in.
The article makes clear that most people don't know what's happening with their data. They opt into something else and this data collection is included - that doesn't sound like much of an 'option'.
Your quote is misleading. The "he" is in the next paragraph and refers to someone else who owns a Cadillac, not a Corvette.
The track day thing probably was the funniest thing in the article, though.