The EU actually mandated that cars have a modem ("eCall"), so they could self-report accidents. I think this has been under reported even in tech circles.

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darkwater a day ago | parent [-]

You also need to have a spare tire or an inflate kit, that doesn't mean you can throw it at somebody's head or spray them in the eyes. Said in another manner: having eCall doesn't mean that they are authorized to send telemetry back in non-emergency situations or use it to do any other thing unrelated to the main function. Now, if there is not a law that forbids that, car makers are going to exploit that loophole for sure, but that does not mean the EU is evil in this context.

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crote a day ago | parent [-]

The path is obvious, is it not?

Having two independent cellular modems in a car is obviously silly, so it only makes sense to use the same module both for the mandatory emergency calling and for the telemetry.

Because the emergency calling is mandatory, it'll of course be made impossible to disable the modem - and by extension the telemetry. Oh, you disabled the telemetry? I bet that'll be called "tampering with safety equipment", and your insurance is now void, and your car is no longer road legal.

If the law doesn't mandate that eCall has to be fully independent, it'll 100% be used to spy on you.

	▲	1718627440 a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Having two independent cellular modems in a car is obviously silly They should put mandating exactly that into the law.
	▲	darkwater a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		But the EU can just (and maybe already does) mandate that such telemetry must be opt-in by the user, and on top of that the data collected that way must be treated accordingly to the GDPR anyway.