Hello people, my family recently bought a Renault 5 e-tech. The car itself is great, but there are some aspects that creep me out, especially the driver-facing camera. We didn’t actually know that such a camera existed before we bought the car, it was only mentioned as the car was given to us.
The cameras official purpose is to see, if you are tired and paying attention to the road, by some “AI magic”, I suppose. You can also let it scan your face, so that you automatically get logged into your profile.
I personally think, that that is kinda creepy, especially as there is no visual indication if the camera is currently recording and no official way to disable the camera hardware-wise. When it is being coverd, the car immediately complains about it.
When talking to friends or family about it, I got one of two reactions: equal concern, or “nice feature actually”, “what about the camera on your laptop?”, “you are way too paranoid”, “I have noting to hide; it is only me driving being recorded”.
I have also seen such cameras in other cars, BYD for example.
What do you think, is this creepy or am I too paranoid? Does anyone know where the actual data is processed, on device or on some cloud server? Do you have any experience with such cameras? I couldn’t really find any information about it on the internet.
Remote start (ICE) or remote starting heater (EV, ICE with Webasto) is a nice feature. Ability to check the status of your doors (are they locked), windows (maybe you left them open because it was hot and then the rain sensor didn’t close them), etc. All great features. Ability to track it is great if you have kids and let them drive, I guess - mine isn’t that old yet.
It would be much nicer if you could route all of that to your HA server instead of the manufacturer’s server though.
Is why I keep driving utterly depreciated formerly executive/luxury shitboxes! Okay, I had one 2019 Mercedes, best car I’ve ever owned, other than the privacy issues. But you can get 90% of the actual physical car features that car offered in a car manufactured before they started connecting 'em to the internet. Would only be missing the 9G-Tronic transmission and the super efficient engine that made it feel like I was driving for free.
Now my dream car is a 2010-2012 Range Rover (L322). First of the ones with the good 4.4 diesel engine and the extremely good ZF 8 speed transmission. Last of the ones with the sexy boxy body shape. Connectivity? GPS, radio, bluetooth (only for calls). No internet. Price? About 10-15k EUR for a decent one. Good luck finding a brand new car for less than 100k with the same comfort level and towing capacity. Maintenance costs? OK if you know how to wrench, literal bankruptcy material if you don’t.
I can do all of this myself with my eyes and my hands, I live in a place where I don’t lock my car really ever unless I go to the big cities. Like I detest the idea of having an app for my car to tell me the automatic window thing you’re talking about didn’t do it. I am perfectly capable of doing that myself with my own 2 hands, I’ve forgotten before in the rain and it hasn’t ever been so big of a deal that I’d opt for a feature to do that for me, it’s the definition of unnecessary. Remote start seems nice especially in the brutal winters but I’ve never had it before and I’ve never had any problems waking up before sunrise in below 0 weather to start my car other than battery issues. I also don’t see why remote start and heated seats would require internet or an app whatsoever.
I literally have no idea what this means and zero interest in learning anything more about software or hardware, I do admit that’s probably kindof ignorant of me but I also do not like “computer stuff” like that, I have an iPhone because I want it to 100% simple as possible like I’m a boomer.
I just want a god damn car I can start with my hands and drive where I need to go safely and efficiently. That’s it. I don’t understand why people enjoy having so many more unnecessary bells and whistles.
Good for you then. Where I live, it can be 35 degrees and sunshine and then suddenly torrential rain half an hour later. You’d want to be able to make sure the window is closed when it starts raining. How do you do that if you can’t get to the car at the moment?
0 degree weather doesn’t really warrant pre-heating your car either. Try running out the moment you wake up in nothing but a t-shirt and maybe pants when it’s -30 or colder to get the car. Bonus points if you live on the 5th floor and have to run down, then up to go have breakfast and then back down. Then tell me you see no value in being able to do this remotely.
Though if you use an iPhone, I don’t really see why you care about having a non-connected car anyway. Your phone already reports where you are at all times.
lol. I own winter coats for a reason… You throw that on instead of a t shirt in -30 mornings. We get those here too. Just going out in a t shirt is your own fault. I would also never work somewhere I couldn’t run outside quick to roll up my windows. I always work labor so I’ve never ever been told I’d have to just sit inside if I knew my car was being rained on. These problems aren’t real problems being solved they’re laziness. Telling me you don’t take the time to put a coat on in the winter is fucking insane no wonder you need your car to connect to WiFi and track you!
I don’t care about my phone tracking me tbh.
I care about it being easy and efficient to use, that’s my whole point about cars.
I’m not going to bother getting dressed just to go start the car lol. I own a winter coat too, I rarely use it because I don’t need it when it’s warmer than about -30. I go out in my shorts and t-shirt and then get dressed when it’s actually time to leave.
Anyway, all of these things make using your car easier and more efficient. Not having to spend extra time doing things manually. But like I said, if you don’t care about your phone tracking you, why give a shit about the car? It has far less data, it can’t even access your bank accounts or email.
I bet you don’t drive a car with manually adjustable valves either. Why? Are you lazy? Or is it that technology takes care of things you don’t want to spend time doing? Matter of fact, why not walk or cycle to work? It’s all laziness in the end.
There’s a certain level of laziness that I am willing to sacrifice for comfort/efficency, and then there’s the level of work that I enjoy putting in to my daily routine. Now I’m just worried for you as a fellow winter enjoyer… put on a coat and some gloves dude! You can get frostbite! It is 100% worth it, you already have to put on atleast underwear (you owe that to your neighbors if they can see you like mine could) and shoes! Please don’t tell me you skip putting on shoes too…
As far as the data thing goes I would be willfully ignorant if the cars actually reflected what I wanted to do with them, if that makes sense. I don’t need it to connect to an app on my phone because that personally annoys me, that’s kinda it. Same with driver facing cameras, fancy screens that are distracting, etc, it’s mostly that they personally annoy me and I don’t personally like the features and I wish there were options to have a simple car with a simple, physical interface.
The thing is, these are nearly always voluntary features. Just because you gain the ability to check lock status and lock the doors from your phone doesn’t mean you lose the lock button on the fob. Teslas are just about the only exception there lol
As for the coat thing, I don’t do it because I’m accustomed to it, I used to lie in snow piles in jeans and a t-shirt as a teen.
But the annoying part is having to run downstairs, put on shoes, etc. My car takes about half an hour of running the engine to get the ice off the windscreen and the cabin warm enough for my toddler (did you know that thick coats or onesies are bad for safety while driving? I did not, but my ex does and she’s the kind of person to tell CPS I’m not keeping our child safe enough.) On an average winter morning that means I should be out of the door and starting the car the minute after I wake up. Kindergarten mornings are not fun in the winter. Difficult enough to wake up when it’s pitch black outside.
But anyway, the reason I’m now looking at those old Range Rogers besides some of the comfiest seats in the world is that they have a preheater as standard equipment on diesels for those years so I can either program a schedule or use the remote if equipped, which works for me since I currently live in a detached home not the nth floor of a large commie block where signal might be an issue. I don’t think my neighbours like me idling the car for half an hour on a cold morning either, the preheater is much quieter and uses less fuel so there’s less exhaust gas too. Plus I get to start the engine when it’s already warm, rather than worrying about whether my timing chain will make it through the winter.