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Comment by LeoPanthera | Hacker News Reader

OTA-upgradable has advantages. If the shipping firmware has bugs (and in my experience, this has been true for over a decade), it must be returned to the dealer to fix... unless you have OTA updates, and then it's no problem.

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Problem is majority of times unsolicited updates take away perfectly working features, introduce unwanted new ones, or bring in bloat and ads.

I had to laugh when my previous Samsung TV notified me of an update about 3 years since the last update - I went ahead and installed it, it literally just uninstalled a bunch of apps where I assume the licensing agreement had expired.

Thankfully I didn't use any of the apps because they sucked anyway...

OTA-upgradable means automakers are siphoning your data and selling it off to who knows where. Speed, gps, brake, etc. Hundreds of pieces of data. I'm sure insurance companies are actively buying this data up.

Source: worked at the telematics/connectivity division of one of the big car companies

Here's hoping. Given what we've learned about how accident rates are under-reported, it would be nice if somebody was getting a more accurate global picture of how driving actually works to allow for safer roads and safer insurance policies.

Beautiful thinking. Now back to reality - let's randomly play ads through your car audio system while driving and at max volume. Of course we will block your ability to control said audio system for duration of an ad so you can't skip nor mute the ad, duh. Enjoy your internet connected car.

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