[svsantosh]

A Senior colleague in my UAE office has a Model Y 2023 model. He has owned it new from the Dubai Sheikh Zayed road showroom for last 6 months and put in about 10,000 Kms on it. A very happy customer indeed.

Last week he got a call on his mobile and the person on the line identified himself as a Tesla Roadside assistance mobile mechanic and said 'sir your rear right tail lamp is not working and I need to come to your location now to change it'.

Obviously we are not used to such kind of calls and the colleague went blank for a few seconds. He agreed to receive him in the next 30 mins and the person arrived in his fully decked out service van. In 15 mins he changed the full assembly and off we went.

Now...

See the level of Tech integration Musk has pulled off with a few satellites and internet. Sitting at a laptop in the A.S.S, a mechanic saw a tail lamp failing on his customers car and comes in an hour and gone! I cannot even begin to describe the WOW factor I have as a car owner or petrol head to imagine this kind of 'useful' integration of tech and cars.

Between 2016 and 2022, I was associated with IOT & M2M projects in conventional mechanical engineering industry, linking large turbines to one's mobile phone and giving real time data on Pressure, Power, RPM, Kw, Temperature, Oil life, etc.

Now I am seeing that kind of tech coming full circle. Now that's called Customer Centric Service. Kudos to Tesla!

[Night Raven]

Somehow I am more horrified than excited about this. If this happens to me I will be uneasy every time I sit in that car because I don’t know what all information the technicians at the service centre can access about my car. If my location can be continuously monitored by some stranger, how safe should I be feeling?

[Fuldagap]

It's exciting to read this experience. But I'm curious to know how did a mechanic 'see' the taillight not working. Did the car 'inform' the service guys?
Did the owner get a notification too via any app or email that his tail light wasn't working prior to receiving a call from the service personnel.

One day a car will 'calculate' it is idle for hours, the owner sleeping at home or working at office and would say to the owner, hey my tail light isn't working, I'm off to get it done by the time you need me. I'll be back in a couple of hours.

[DDIS_RE650]

Originally Posted by Night Raven

Somehow I am more horrified than excited about this. If this happens to me I will be uneasy every time I sit in that car because I don’t know what all information the technicians at the service centre can access about my car. If my location can be continuously monitored by some stranger, how safe should I be feeling?

Do you use the smart phone, Google tracks every inch you make move. My entire travel history is with Google. Am I worried, absolutely not.

[poloman]

Some one other than you, keeping track of your possessions is called creepy behavior. Nothing to get excited. The fault should be flashed to the owner and he should take a call to fix it or not.

[Night Raven]

Originally Posted by DDIS_RE650

Do you use the smart phone, Google tracks every inch you make move. My entire travel history is with Google. Am I worried, absolutely not.

True, but so far Google or Apple hasn’t called me saying my phone’s battery health is less than 80% and I need to replace it. They haven’t called and told me my phone’s screen is cracked and they will come and repair it. When they do so I will consider that as encroaching to my privacy. Also, my smartphone at least gives me an option to turn off the location sharing and allows me to choose what all apps can access the Internet. Not sure all that is possible in this connected car set up.
As someone mentioned, it will be nice if a notification pops in my car screen or connected phone screen if there is a fault. I should be given a choice to send that information to the service guys or not.
Just my opinion

PS: I am curious to know the legal aspect of this. Are the Tesla owners signing an agreement at the time of purchase that they will allow the company to track these info? If not, is this legally allowed?

[raptor_diwan]

Originally Posted by Fuldagap

But I'm curious to know how did a mechanic 'see' the taillight not working. Did the car 'inform' the service guys?

In simpler terms, it's like having a virtual, internet-based OBD system. They can monitor it globally, similar to when you start a brand new Android or Apple device, where it asks for diagnostic info to be sent to dev for analysis. In this concept, the same info is being sent to them in case of an error.

Since an error occurred, they contacted him to fix it, which I find reassuring. In fact, I believe this is a positive development and would like to see similar features implemented in ICE vehicles. If I were informed via call about issues such as low engine oil, braking problems, or low coolant levels, I would appreciate it.

One day a car will 'calculate' it is idle for hours, the owner sleeping at home or working at office and would say to the owner, hey my tail light isn't working, I'm off to get it done by the time you need me. I'll be back in a couple of hours

Haha, we're already living in such an era! Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if such a thing happens. It's similar to how the iPhone chooses the best time to auto-update by analyzing my idle time, or how it manages slow charging to complete just before I wake up in the morning. These functionalities are already available, and in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with them.

If you're worried about this small piece of info being leaked, consider this: if you're using antivirus software on your system, they have the capability to upload any of your files at any time and read them. I've worked with three major AV companies, and although I can't disclose them, everyone has the complete rights to collect any file they want from your PC. However, they don't do so but they can. AI systems automatically upload suspicious files to our lab, but they generally avoid touching personal data. Mostly it will be a script or executables ( Urls you visit ) Nevertheless, it's a reminder that your personal documents on your personal PC, on the D drive, aren't entirely safe. So far, though, nothing alarming has happened.

It might sound a bit concerning, but if we want to be more advanced in everything, these kinds of things are likely to happen.

[Fuldagap]

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

Haha, we're already living in such an era! Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if such a thing happens. It's similar to how the iPhone chooses the best time to auto-update by analyzing my idle time, or how it manages slow charging to complete just before I wake up in the morning. These functionalities are already available, and in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with them.

If you're worried about this small piece of info being leaked, consider this: if you're using antivirus software on your system, they have the capability to upload any of your files at any time and read them. I've worked with three major AV companies, and although I can't disclose them, everyone has the complete rights to collect any file they want from your PC. However, they don't do so but they can. AI systems automatically upload suspicious files to our lab, but they generally avoid touching personal data. Mostly it will be a script or executables ( Urls you visit ) Nevertheless, it's a reminder that your personal documents on your personal PC, on the D drive, aren't entirely safe. So far, though, nothing alarming has happened.

It might sound a bit concerning, but if we want to be more advanced in everything, these kinds of things are likely to happen.

Thanks for sharing how Tesla knows about a certain headlight being out of order.

I'm not at all worried about these things just curious about how things work in this particular case.
Data collection is a tricky subject world over.

[dragon_booster]

I wish Tata implements similar services in their EV if it's feasible for EVs. but sadly even if I say that headlight is not working myself they will ask me to come back later.

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

consider this: if you're using antivirus software on your system, they have the capability to upload any of your files at any time and read them. I've worked with three major AV companies, and although I can't disclose them, everyone has the complete rights to collect any file they want from your PC. However, they don't do so but they can. AI systems automatically upload suspicious files to our lab, but they generally avoid touching personal data. Mostly it will be a script or executables ( Urls you visit ) Nevertheless, it's a reminder that your personal documents on your personal PC, on the D drive, aren't entirely safe. So far, though, nothing alarming has happened.

This is really concerning. How are they taking my info without consent ? Can I figure out where it's going and how it's happening? I've got Quick Heal software, but can't see anything about this in application.

[raptor_diwan]

Originally Posted by dragon_booster

This is really concerning. How are they taking my info without consent ? Can I figure out where it's going and how it's happening? I've got Quick Heal software, but can't see anything about this in application.

I was just giving an example of how things work in this industry. I can't share more info because of my work, and I could get into legal trouble . But since you mentioned your AV name, you can find this on 8th point of your AV disclosure here.

https://quickheal.co.in/documents/ma...r_Guide_16.pdf

You can google and find same for all AVs. They will collect the files that they (AI) feel it can be a malware not all your personal files.

Getting Off-topic, let's leave this here. It's simply an example, nothing to worry about. It's just that they can do it, but they won't. I'm referring to the possibility or the power they have. Not accusing of any AV stealing data.

[svsantosh]

Oh in case it was not clear or obvious - Tesla, it looks like, has something equal to real time data tracking and diagnostics of its cars. Irrespective of one being in a mobile/internet coverage area or not, the car is always connected to the star-link satellite network of Elon Musk and the after sales service center always has direct live access to any car.

I am also sure a good 2-3% of the battery reserve is always hidden or tucked away for these activities of keeping the car linked to their network.

Gosh, for all you know they can always be listening and recording you inside the car on real time basis!

No wonder China banned Tesla on some sensitive roads last year.


https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...ce-2022-06-20/

[dragon_booster]

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

Not accusing of any AV stealing data.

From what you've said about your job, I get it. Thanks for sharing the link and pointing this out. It seems like they're able to collect all sorts of data from me to make their product better. I always thought my computer files are safe until unless I put one in cloud.

[GTO]

Great story, thanks for sharing . That is really exemplary service. Not just the call to fix the light (a safety issue), but also the offer to come to customer's home / office to fix it.

For everyone who is excessively worried about privacy, drive this (or any older non-connected car):


Use this phone:


And don't ever connect to the internet, or use Google services, or social media, or online shopping:


Truth is, privacy is a myth today.

[S.MJet]

Originally Posted by Night Raven

Somehow I am more horrified than excited about this.

By this logic we should not be part of formal banking. Banking staff, their backend teams etc. have all our financial transaction at their disposal.

Service providers will use our transactional/personal info to the extent required for servicing us and sometime upselling.
We have no choice but to trust them, else it'll be difficult to survive in this connected world.

[MyLife_MyCar]

I don't understand all this fuss about data privacy!!
Is Earth flat? No.
Is data privacy a real thing? No. Period.

Google and iPhones track our every step. We upload our photos on insta, facebook, whataspp for the world to see, like and share. We register our phone number at hundreds of places and get calls from thousands of unknown callers.

Heck, we even search something on google (from a vacation place to a sock that you want to buy) and start seeing its ads all over the places.

I don't see anything wrong with the way Tesla got its customer's car repaired. With today's connected car tech, companies are anyway keeping a track of your movements. Cars even have self diagnosis checks whenever you turn it on. Tesla just extended that to find and correct the faults in the car!

All we must do is keep our OTP to ourselves.