OT: What else does my car know about me?

Welkl, yes. I would expect that, given that I can do that myself from the app.

Yes, through the app I can access a number of functions but to do that I had to pair the car with my phone through Bluetooth but this was done without any pairing involved unless it had already been paired with the dealers computer system at the point of sale?

Richard

Probably not much else, the tyre sensors have to connect by radio, maybe Bluetooth, if not then something fairly similar. They have to be paired with the car after replacement.

Mostly 434 MHz (or the USanian version)

Avpx

A 5G modem would be pennies on the cost of the car.

Teslas update firmware in real time on the go. My former employer paid for an upgrade while driving (no idea what was upgraded) by voice command alone.

My Skoda Enyaq gets notice of upgrades on the go,, but wait until car is parked before doing them.

Agreed. But I can also do it from my Ford account on the web, and I'm pretty sure I never paired that. All it wanted was the VIN (which the dealer would have, or could read off the car)

Over 4G/5G wherever it happens to be (the e-Call system mandates the car has connectivity, the manufacturers can't resist using it for additional purposes)

And does your insurer buy that data?

Ah, the Internet of Stings... ;-)

In message <vjbtcd$1h0um$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, Tricky Dicky snipped-for-privacy@sky.com writes

Using an RTL dongle and a Linux program I could check the tyre pressures and makes of the cars that passed my house. I was wanting to find which of my sensors were faulty.

Brian

I was playing with rtl_433 and a TV dongle that'll receive 433MHz. Turned out I could pick up the tyre pressures of cars down the street...

(and the weather station, and the oil tank levels, and...)

Theo

On a similar theme, I can see the public WiFi networks on the buses that pass the end of the road in my study ...

With modern cars the MO seems to be they collect all kinds of data including telematics - i.e. location, speed, acceleration, breaking, cornering etc. They then sell that to data brokers, who in turn sell it to insurers who use it to jack the premiums of people of own cars that appear to be driven in a way or in a place or at a time that elevates their risk.

You need to be very careful to limit what you agree to in the sales process - and note that many of the remote diagnostic capabilities require you to agree to tall the other crap to be able to use them.

(some folks go as far as knobbling the 4G/5G modem in the car to stop it blabbing!)

My car has a "driver assistance" camera, it attempts to watch for dangerous situations, and when they occur it either goes "BONG!" or applies the brakes all by itself.

It has never detected a dangerous situation before I had already noticed it myself, several times it has flagged up danger when there was none, is my insurer keeping a tally of these "risks"?

I wonder.

A little while ago I negotiated some single lane roadworks on a narrow road. As I exited the roadworks, I was very close to the car waiting from the other direction (tight swerve to get back on my side of the road). It triggered the collision avoidance.

Our sister in law has a flat overlooking a bus stop where the buses stop for around 2 minutes. she regularly logs on and checks email /social media using the buses, she uses the buses regularly anyway so her phone and tablet are set up for them.

GH

If the data are there, and you have not explicitly blocked use, then probably.

(the other interesting thing is that if the car is phoning home, it does not necessarily know who is actually driving).

The more scary ones are the new speed aware / limiter systems that can read speed signs and apply brakes... various people have found themselves cruising on a motorway only for the car to see a sign on an adjacent road and decide to slow the car to a "legal" 30!

Wait til the car is behind one of those foreign trucks with signs for 90 and

The reverse is true, you must specifically agree for personal data to be recorded.

This is a pain..

Dave