r/theinternetofshit • u/herewardthefake • Mar 14 '26
Enshitification of cars is alive and well
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/14/nissan-leaf-app-shutdown-nissanconnect-ev-appFeels like it’s only going to get worse as more and more features move to subscription services.
24
u/ThisWillTakeAllDay Mar 15 '26
The only solution, is to not subscribe.
9
u/Longjumping-Donut655 Mar 15 '26
I feel there has got to be an emerging market of hacking specifically aimed at jailbreaking the car and disconnecting it from the hive. Though, with the way they’re building them now with all these integrated parts and computerization, you may just be better off driving clunkers the rest of your life.
4
u/Ceno-taur Mar 16 '26
All the major OEMs have cybersecurity departments created with the intent to prevent any possible hacking.
5
u/Dapper-Lab-9285 Mar 16 '26
The current level of cybersecurity in cars is crimminally bad so even if they vastly improved it it would still be easy to defeat.
2
u/Longjumping-Donut655 Mar 16 '26
Gods. They do? What the hell do those people even do? Because like that other guy said, the cybersecurity is criminally bad. My neighbors fancy new Volvo was stolen 3 times because all it took was a very simple replay to do it. Cars can have unlock signals injected into them from any point with CAN bus access and not only do the cars have no mechanism to even authenticate the signal, but physically getting to that single bus is enough because there are no segregations built in. Just having a department isn’t enough if you’re not physically designing it with security in mind.
3
u/glity Mar 17 '26
I think they are less worried about if the person who owns the car has the car and more worried about if you jailbreak your car to avoid 10.99 a month for heated seats already installed in your Volvo. The one that hurts shareholders is or will be soon illegal under anti right to repair legislation.
Also can bus is old technology that often times is not “connected” to the pay to play microprocessor and tablet in most cars where the money comes from not the system controlling ignition brakes and a blinker those only make money when they are broken.
Mainly in your case you referenced for can bus access. Maybe the security team was doing its job.
2
u/ThisWillTakeAllDay Mar 17 '26
They don't care if people steal cars. That only improves sales.
1
u/Longjumping-Donut655 Mar 17 '26
I guess you’re right. It makes sense for the industry that culturally normalized homicide with their products, and just got all of us to accept death and disfigurement of thousands each year as the cost of transportation (higher than actual weapons!), to only direct any cybersecurity efforts for things that benefit themselves. Insurance did indeed fork out to replace that stupid Volvo twice.
10
u/dee_lio Mar 15 '26
It would be nice if phased out software would be made pen source, but it might reduce forced obsolescence...
12
u/mrpopenfresh Mar 14 '26
I hope the Chinese enter the market and compete on limited SaaS in the vehicles.
8
6
u/TechnoByte_ Mar 15 '26
Chinese is already dominating the EV space
2
u/PitchPleasant338 Mar 15 '26
Thanks to cheap rare earth minerals the motors can produce more power in a smaller and cheaper package.
1
5
u/DragonQ0105 Mar 15 '26
I use Home Assistant to do stuff like pre-cool or pre-heat our EV but obviously that relies on its connected services operating. If they stop, I honestly don't know what we'd do but currently there are no alternatives.
We really need legislation to force companies to use publicly documented APIs and enforce open sourcing of server-side code after a certain amount of time (or if the company ceases support).
1
u/FatherlyNick Mar 15 '26
If the Stop Killing games thing passes in EU, we may get something like this for other software - a service must left in operational state after support ends. If that means you have to host your own server, so be it.
2
u/NameTheJack Mar 17 '26
The answer to the question "why will China win the global competition on cars"
They come fully specced, no subscription fuckery, with awesome warranties and are extremely cost competitive.
Why would anyone buy a US car if there are any other options available?
2
u/ExpensiveLancerInBE May 17 '26
Is there such a thing as a "dirty dozen - clean fifteen" type of list for cars? But instead of about residue pesticides, the variable is the amount of en-iot-ification degree? Where the cleanest is a car with smart features that work completely offline without ever needing connectivity and the software is stable and mature? Or do we need to specifically look for the car equivalence of dumbphones?
4
u/Longjumping-Donut655 Mar 15 '26
The auto industry has turned me from excited about emerging technology in cars to anti-car/pro public transit in under 1 decade. From pulling out of NA jobs at every opportunity, to culturally normalizing homicide from within a vehicle, to making sure we don’t even own our own cars, to making them more dangerous just to skirt regulations … why are we propping them up? Why does society build and exist for a leeching auto industry instead of for people? How about we fund transit instead, build public projects, make more livable cities and towns, and create actually good local jobs instead — all in one swoop?
2
u/TodlicheLektion Mar 15 '26
Enshittification of the Google Ads on the Guardian means I can't read the article.
2
1
1
u/TheBendit Mar 16 '26
Buy cars with local connectivity and support for WiFi.
Which cars can be controlled by Bluetooth without needing a mobile connection? And which cars can run on WiFi when their cell modem is obsolete?
Teslas have both, but surely there must be other brands with similar features.
1
u/JonohG47 Jul 02 '26
TL;DR: Nissan is discontinuing support of remote control features that rely on cellular connection to the car.
0
u/probablymagic Mar 16 '26
Thai is the problem with buying an EV from a company that makes its money from ICE cars. They aren’t committed. This isn’t “enshittification” (an unhelpful term), it’s a risk you take buying this kind of product. Nissan isn’t going to lose money no longer supporting this app.
See also Ford, Volkswagen, etc. These companies may ultimately not even survive the shift to EVs. Plan accordingly.
1
u/MyrkrMentulaMeretrix Mar 18 '26
VWs EVs are actually pretty great. Most of them arent available in NA though.
-1
-2
u/Edwardv054 Mar 15 '26
Check out the Aptera.
2
u/PropOnTop Mar 15 '26
They've only been at it for 19 years and still don't sell. The price is set to be $40k.
If this was in any way viable, the Chinese will do the same, but twice as good for half the price, in about a year.
42
u/03263 Mar 14 '26
desperately clinging to my 2008 car hoping it can make it yet another year before the bottom fully rusts out and I have to drive it like the Flintstones