Tesla drivers can now disable remote access in privacy win

https://cleanenergyrevolution.co/2023/11/06/tesla-drivers-can-now-disable-remote-access-in-privacy-win/

by ronron4693 • 3 years ago

112 69 3 years ago

vGPU5• 3 years ago

This is a feature for Tesla repair - Tesla has always been able to remotely start your car without your keys. Adding in a toggle to disable it is new, and appears to be in the A/B testing stage currently.

I wonder if there was an “incident” we aren’t aware of that prompted this, like the snafu with Tesla employees sharing videos.

yafbum• 3 years ago

Every root capability will be abused in time. Either by malice or by (human or technical) exploitation

j45• 3 years ago

You either own your car and the connectivity to it, or you don’t.

Your driving data and history should be yours alone and not in a cloud available to third parties directly or indirectly

Tesla is unique in that they do improve the vehicles over software.

But those notifications could be sent to a phone to allow.

x86x872• 3 years ago

Tesla is not unique by any means. Cars nowadays are cellphones on wheels. Software updates are common. What is not common is Tesla's yolo attitude - in the car industry.

hoseja2• 3 years ago

This, but also Tesla won several bogus high-profile cases with the data they siphon off the vehicles. Hard position.

huytersd2• 3 years ago

Can you just rip out all internet connectivity from the Tesla and will it still work?

somedude895• 3 years ago

It does work without internet connectivity, yes.

ratg13• 3 years ago

You can just take out the SIM card

Animats• 3 years ago

Does this setting actually do anything? Or is it just cosmetic?

dataflow• 3 years ago

This doesn't read like something that actually "disables remote access", but something that tells Tesla "please don't allow your personnel to remotely send commands to my car".

userbinator• 3 years ago

There is something amusingly ironic about Tesla being able to add this feature remotely: they can also change or remove it completely at any time.

1letterunixname3• 3 years ago

This brings up a number of concerns.

1. EOL - I'm wondering how "vintage" and "obsolete" models will be handled. Let's suppose parts go NLA, it would be curious to see if mobile apps would still work, which parts can be changed, and what feature(s) would stop working.

2. Tesla's ability to disappear or introduce features and changes in behavior over time

3. Ability or inability to stop, pause, or revert software updates

4. E2EE

5. Encryption of on-board data at rest

6. Encryption of phoned home data at rest

7. Telemetry data on-board

8. Telemetry data phoned home

Perhaps there ought to be a r2r requirement of open source schematics, bill of materials (BOMs), and firmware for vehicles no later than when parts become NLA.

jjoonathan3• 3 years ago

Do Teslas still brick themselves if they can't phone home?

justrealist2• 3 years ago

Really think about this claim. Have you ever heard of a Tesla driving through a dead zone and bricking itself on a mountain, or in a desert? Or in a disaster zone when cell service was down?

If that happened, you would hear about it instantly. It's obviously not true.

MBCook• 3 years ago

No, but I have certainly heard stories of Teslas in underground parking garages that couldn’t get a cell signal and therefore couldn’t start.

I don’t know what particular conditions cause that. Maybe using phone as a key? And perhaps it was fixed. But it famously happened to Glenn Howerton.

jjoonathan3• 3 years ago

Yes, I have heard of it, but without any attached circumstances. I'm not sure there are any attached circumstances that would make it appropriate, but I wanted to hear out the Tesla fans.

dkjaudyeqooe4• 3 years ago

It's the other way around: they phone home so that they can be bricked, or at the very least have important features disabled at Tesla's whim.

What you're suggesting can't work because there isn't cell reception everywhere, but of course that hasn't stopped car rental companies (I think) implementing exactly that with the predictable result of people being stranded in remote locations.

The real danger is that someone from Tesla is here reading your comment and putting it on the to do list.

jjoonathan3• 3 years ago

if (days_since_last_phone_home>30) brick();

What I'm really asking is if you are allowed to block the phone home process. Or, in superlative language that I suspect would resonate more with Tesla fans, "in the event of an apocalypse does your Tesla automatically brick itself or does it continue to function?"

rossjudson4• 3 years ago

Let's say you're at Tesla service and there are 100 cars parked there. You need to find the next one to service. This setting is for finding cars in a parking lot.

It has nothing to do with privacy.

I mean, it literally says what it is in the dialog that's posted.

dkjaudyeqooe4• 3 years ago

Or they could just number the parking spaces, or any other number of simple solutions that don't involve violating people's privacy.

Why should Tesla's (or anyone else's) convenience come at the cost of my privacy?

1letterunixname3• 3 years ago

If you take a self-parking/-summoning ride to a dealership service department where they shuffle cars every few minutes, it's reasonable to leave keys or their equivalent. If the equivalent is a geofenced, limited duration, remote control credential generated only by an owner-initiated positive control process, then that's fine too.

amatecha• 3 years ago

Yeah, internet-connected software never does anything other than what a user-facing dialog box says...

1letterunixname3• 3 years ago

Yes, I don't see anything particularly special about it to warrant this headline, but I do want to see the (i) info dialog.

Anyone have a Tesla with this setting? :]

freerobby4• 3 years ago

The info dialog is the screenshot on the left in the embedded tweet.

https://twitter.com/_bennettm_/status/1720287612664217758

WWLink• 3 years ago

Somehow every other car dealer in the world already has a solution to this problem and it doesn't involve the manufacturer having basically unrestricted root access to my car lmao.

beenBoutIT• 3 years ago

GM has had the same type of root access to its cars since around 2009. Police can use it to stop cars in high speed chases and it can be used to track stolen (behind on payments...) cars.

maxerickson• 3 years ago

If it works when the car isn't at Tesla service, then it potentially has something to do with privacy.

rossjudson4• 3 years ago

Working turn signals have something to do with privacy as well.

brokenmachine• 3 years ago

TIL that it was impossible to find cars before wifi.

ssalka• 3 years ago

If only there was some sort of unique identifier clearly displayed on every car

bsagdiyev• 3 years ago

A metal plate affixed to the car in a highly visible location may help this problem.

seanhunter3• 3 years ago

Such a tough problem. I can see why they need to have a specific app feature to solve this.

It’s incredible that literally every single other car manufacturer manages to do this without that feature. I mean, if only cars were legally required to display some sort of plate with a unique identifier on them.

thebruce87m2• 3 years ago

They do it badly. I’ve waited multiple times for other dealerships to find my car or find my keys. One time they lost the keys because the mechanic had taken them home in his pocket.

I’ve had my Tesla looked at twice. The first time I took it in and told them I was here, they didn’t need the key or ask where it was parked. The second time they came to the house, I just walked to work and left it in an accessible place and they did the rest.

ulfw• 3 years ago

And you know that how? Do you have access to the source code?

Slava_Propanei• 3 years ago

A software toggle is not reassuring. There needs to be no physical component at all that can allow access by anyone that isn’t me, physically present, with my ass in the seat.

inemesitaffia• 3 years ago

That already exists

dkjaudyeqooe4• 3 years ago

Great, now I can cancel my order of a faraday cage double garage.

m463• 3 years ago

However, I suspect this will not prevent the car from connecting to tesla. In other words, the car will still request software updates, and I'll bet some local operations will still talk to tesla servers. I would imagine reset to factory settings probably requires your credentials to be verified with tesla by connecting.

Now if I could only turn off the wifi AP my wall connector creates (tesla ev charger in my garage)

wolverine876• 3 years ago

Just because the UI designer typed that text doesn't mean the coder (and management) implemented it that way. Text in a UI isn't a contract. It's hard to believe Tesla would permanently disable that capability.

Tesla likely made the change in response to concerns about customer consent and data protection.

This isn't journalism, it's just fabrication. Journalism, and all critical thought, requires evidence.

pests3• 3 years ago

Tesla drivers can now disable remote access in privacy win

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