HACKER Q&A
📣 jakobdabo

Privacy-Friendly Car?


Hi HN. In light of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42803279 (Hacking Subaru: Tracking and Controlling Cars via the Starlink Admin Panel) and some revelations in the comments, I would like to ask if anybody here is aware of any modern electric car that can be used without ever connecting it to the network?

It's also important that the car shouldn't collect telemetry and location data and wait for the first opportunity (like gaining network access while being serviced) to upload that all.

  👤 matt_s Accepted Answer ✓
My guess is you'd have to go DIY and retrofit an ICE car with batteries and motors. There are companies that do this but its probably expensive.

If you rank your priorities and privacy comes before EV then you could just buy a 10 year old used ICE vehicle. They have very little, if any, connected-ness, mostly just SiriusXM linkage if paying for the subscription.

👤 bigfatkitten
Disconnect the LTE antennas, and terminate the antenna ports with 50 ohm loads. As far as the car is concerned, it's outside cell coverage.

If the car can't work without cellular coverage, then you've made a very poor life decision in buying it.

👤 tacostakohashi
Privacy is rather limited in any car given registration plates and automatic scanning.