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Comment by WarmWash

15 hours ago

What sucks is that at least with my car, if you pull their access, you also lose all your remote access as well, and the ability to receive updates.

Why does a car need "remote access" and to "receive updates?" I'd consider this a bonus side effect.

  • People who live in cold or hot places like to prestart the climate control in their car.

    • When I was a lad we walked out to the car and did that with the key. In the snow. It wasn't that bad and, despite what you may have heard, was not in fact uphill both ways.

Why do you need remote access to your car? What updates does your car need?

  • > What updates does you car need?

    These cars are more software than hardware now. And like everything else in the software industry, every product gets released incomplete and patched later.

    Although the correct solution would be a USB port somewhere to insert a patch file rather that over-the-air updates that might happen while driving.

  • It’s practical to see battery level so I can optimise the electricity price at which I charge it.

    Although it wasn’t worth the cost of the 3 year subscription so I now just estimate the charge status based on the charge’s power consumption.

    If the car is at 10% battery, it may be worth charging at .15 or .3€/kWh. If it’s at 70% charge, I’ll wait until the price drops to .005€/kWh. The whole thing is automated in HA.

  • You can do stuff like like turn it on to heat or cool the cabin, live track it's location, lock/unlock doors, open/close trunk, and updates are mostly for the infotainment systemn and driving assists.

    Their is a cell modem in the car, so all these features are available anywhere the car has cell service.

    • > You can do stuff like like turn it on to heat or cool the cabin, live track it's location, lock/unlock doors, open/close trunk, and updates are mostly for the infotainment systemn and driving assists.

      Are any of those things more important than your security (e.g., against hackers) and privacy?