The 2024 Tesla Model 3 has some of the most advanced navigation, autonomous driving, and safety features currently on the market, meaning it’s full of equipment that can record and track your surroundings—and you. How much data does Tesla collect? Where is it stored? And can you trust them to protect your sensitive information? WIRED decided to investigate.
I didn’t expand on the topic, but the fact that you only have privacy if your car is old doesn’t mean the solution is to buy and maintain old cars. Old cars contaminate more and your car is close to be 30 years old. Its a lose-lose situation for consumers. As usual the solution is not to hide or prohibit new tech. Having cameras in the car is extremely valuable, now we just need to regulate it to ensure the consumer is protected from over-reach.
If there was a new car with modern emissions, that had no cameras or excessive electronics, then I’d be all over it (assuming it’s even close to affordable). For now, I will simply do what I can to not drive as much as possible, and do my own maintenance to make sure that replaced parts and fluids are properly disposed of and I can reclaim pieces from junkyards or otherwise keep them from entering landfills.
I don’t mind it being almost 30 years old, because I know how to maintain it and parts are everywhere (see junkyard comment above). It’s kinda like your body, just because you’re old doesn’t mean you have to be infirm. Sure, if you go decades with no fitness regimen you will be, but there are many ways to mitigate that.
Also, I have cameras in my car, but I put them there and I know where that data ends up. I’m not against some of the tech, just the companies that implement it greedily and poorly.
In terms of pollutants, you’re not wrong, but arguably there are many, many other things churning out far more pollution than my little hoopty (coal plants, trains derailing that carry vinyl chloride, deep sea oil drilling, nuclear weapons testing after-effects, etc.). It’d be great if we could rely on regulation, but from what I see it’s not working very well, and in the USA everything is just getting completely stripped away. IMO, the real vehicles that need to be addressed are semi-trucks and their pollutants. Again, far far more than my tiny ass vehicle at the sheer number of semis on the roads just to keep capitalism afloat.
No way I would trust a company to “do right by me” under any circumstance at this point. It’s always been lose-lose for the common folk, and the onus keeps getting put on us to reduce our footprint while fat cats defeat what I can do over a month in just an hour of running their business.
ETA: Let me ask you this. If there was perfect regulation implemented regarding cameras, would you actually trust Tesla/Elon to stay inline?