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The last piece of the puzzle (which I bet will happen one of these days) is for new vehicles to eventually stop working after a period of time of not being able to connect to Mother Ford for OTA upgrades. Unplug your modem? No problem, but after X days/weeks/months, your vehicle will no longer operate unless connectivity is restored or you have it towed to service department so they can hook it up to download data and apply updates.
I want to say Teslas are already like that? Or at least they complain a lot if you disable the always-on modem. Among various reasons I'm staying away from them so far...
Thank you!
I looked all over the app and Google to find a way to disable it.
I almost think they changed the app because I'm certain I checked that page before.
My last post on the subject of my Big Brother wet dreams:
The last piece of the puzzle (which I bet will happen one of these days) is for new vehicles to eventually stop working after a period of time of not being able to connect to Mother Ford for OTA upgrades. Unplug your modem? No problem, but after X days/weeks/months, your vehicle will no longer operate unless connectivity is restored or you have it towed to service department so they can hook it up to download data and apply updates.
Of course, your purchase agreement will mention "required updates" along with happy talk about vehicle safety, etc, and it will all sound very benign. But if they can force you to have your vehicle updated in order for it to function, you are subject to the whims of the king and you will not be able to refuse the things that I have "proposed".
So how far are we from these things being possible? The technology is already there. And acceptance of these things is almost there too. Most can't imagine any downside to "new technology", and can only offer insults to those that have read a little history and express concern.
My opinion? We should have said H*LL NO to this path we have been put on well before now. No doubt automatic OTA updates should never have been accepted.
I will add one more concern on updates, the longest I ever kept a smart phone was an IPhone 4s and I only replaced it because the updates had bogged down the processor speed so much that it had become cumbersome to use. Some people say that Apple does it on purpose to encourage consumers to upgrade devices. Will auto companies start using similar tactics?
It seems that the .gov is hell bent on inserting itself into every aspect of our lives. They already have live cameras in our yearly automotive inspection bays. Not too long ago they were shut down for 6 weeks due to a ransomware attack. One thing that the .gov deoesmt do well is technology.
The older I get the more I just want to be left alone to live my life in peace and quiet.
Coming to Europe next year. I can't imagine that our liberty loving leaders won't want to jump on this bandwagon also!
Oh, and it's not just speed limiters - we can also welcome multiple cameras in the cab monitoring the driver! Sweet!
I (and Big Brother) want to thank everybody for welcoming the neat-o high tech features into vehicles!
I didn't watch the video but a lot of vehicles have had speed limiters for years. My 2001 GMC Sierra had one. I assume these limiters will adapt to the speed limit on the road you are driving?
I build cellular telematics / GPS / mobile data systems for a living, and I'll be disconnecting Ford's modem as soon as I reasonably can after my truck arrives. I'll be installing a new device of my own that can do similar things though - probably something like this. The difference is I'll control the device's OS, software, networking, and the data it collects.
Nobody knows how secure the network is behind that Ford modem, and any malicious actor with access to it could remotely do everything FORscan can do and more besides, while you're driving down the road.
I'll post more once I get the truck and start working on those systems, so stay tuned (watch for a new thread) Honestly that Nexcom box is super overkill, and pretty expensive normally, we had an extra one left over from work.
Currently debating whether to run Linux or a stripped down Windows 10 IoT. Linux would be more stable and be easier to turn into a Wi-fi hotspot, Windows would let me do things like run FORScan natively. DVR software and GPS tracker agent available for both.
I did check into grabbing existing camera signals before they hit the IPMB module, unfortunately a lot of the cameras are LVDS instead of analog (the 360 cameras for sure, and at least one of the rear cameras on the 2/3 camera version) and I don't know of an off the shelf encoder for that.
After having and using the Ford Pass app for awhile, it was hard to go back to the old way of using the remote to start or unlock. Ford and everyone else knows that the "addiction" to electronics/tech is so strong (especially younger generations) that people don't seem to care about the invasion of privacy or the data that's collected. The part that makes me angry is how they make millions off your data, but you have very little say so on what is collected. It would at least be a consolation if you received a check each month!
I went in and disabled the connectivity settings on the radio ('21 F250 w/Sync 3) and confirmed that the nav and sat radio still work fine. Tempted to unplug the telematics box when I get some more free time.
Very appreciative of this this thread. What really opened my eyes was the part that Phoenixfla posted, where Ford wanted you to tell the passengers that the truck they're riding in is collecting data! Very insidious...
Honestly that Nexcom box is super overkill, and pretty expensive normally, we had an extra one left over from work.
