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Cadillac Smart Driver and Privacy Concerns

This was posted over at CF.


What are we, farm animals who need ear tags? Guess I'm gonna have to stop using Waze. Explains why its free - the product is YOU. Also explains why Google may have been able to negotiate their way in to GM cars. They have WAY more outlets to sell your data to than GM does. Google sells your info, cuts GM in for a percentage.
 
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This was posted over at CF.


What are we, farm animals who need ear tags? Guess I'm gonna have to stop using Waze. Explains why its free - the product is YOU. Also explains why Google may have been able to negotiate their way in to GM cars. They have WAY more outlets to sell your data to than GM does. Google sells your info, cuts GM in for a percentage.
When I first looked at Waze, there was no way to set it so that it only tracked you when you were using the app. Tracking was full time so, I never downloaded it.
 
Pulled the brown coax today; and as suspected it is a dual-cellular/GPS antenna. It did throw one additional code B13AA13‐13 in addition to the code that popped when the purple coax was pulled which was B178C13‐13. This did not throw a CEL or impact other functionality as a result from what I could see.

After pulling brown coax, the infotainment system indicated no GPS in top right corner. However, the built in Nav continue to work but did not load backroad/side roads. I’m thinking the built in Nav uses this dual link for both GPS and data link to load map layers. More testing needed on this. That said, everything else continued to work just fine, voice commands, CarPlay, PDR, etc. need some time for more robust testing on the brown coax but at this time I see little to no impact on my daily usage requirements.

Update: With brown coax removed, built in Nav will work but won’t be accurate with a high degree of error. Map layers will not load or refresh. Speed Limit sign data will also not load.
 

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It just keeps getting worse!


It breaks my heart but this Blackwing we just bought will be our last GM vehicle until this unholy alliance ends, Mary Barra is gone and owner privacy becomes priority #1.
 
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It just keeps getting worse!


It breaks my heart but this Blackwing we just bought will be our last GM vehicle until this unholy alliance ends, Mary Barra is gone and owner privacy becomes priority #1.

Actually let me amend that. I don't care if they engage in these shenanigans as long as they give me a clear way to opt out of it. Or make opting 'in' the only way to activate it. The default should be off.
 
If one never installed the on star or Cadillac app, do you think gm still transferred data to LN? I requested a report so I guess we’ll see…
App is the not the differentiator on tracking you. The paperwork you signed and onstar activation is what does it.
 
It just keeps getting worse!


It breaks my heart but this Blackwing we just bought will be our last GM vehicle until this unholy alliance ends, Mary Barra is gone and owner privacy becomes priority #1.
This just talks about responding to questions you ask with generative AI. I see no problem with that.
 
This just talks about responding to questions you ask with generative AI. I see no problem with that.

Every question you ask it is data gathered about you...and sold...and profiled. The fact that they want to install AI to interact with you in the car should be terrifying. Also, Google is the epitome of evil. Nothing good will come of this.
 
Unless you go old school metal with no computer and no phone in your pocket, you won't be able to avoid the future of data mining. Might as well throw in your credit card usage in there, too.
 
Every question you ask it is data gathered about you...and sold...and profiled. The fact that they want to install AI to interact with you in the car should be terrifying. Also, Google is the epitome of evil. Nothing good will come of this.
I work in an industry heavily influenced by AI. You are way, WAY more vulnerable talking to a person rather than letting AI answer you. I cannot stress that enough. This is an improvement over talking to a person.
 
I work in an industry heavily influenced by AI. You are way, WAY more vulnerable talking to a person rather than letting AI answer you. I cannot stress that enough. This is an improvement over talking to a person.
The human doesn't have time to listen to everything that is said in the car. I don't want Google to hear and store a summary of all my conversations. That is too creepy for me.

Now that it is clear that the OnStar module is easy to access, I was thinking I might subscribe and just disconnect it whenever I go for an enthusiastic drive in the mountains. (My daily driving on ordinary roads is pretty gentle - last speeding ticket was in 1985 - so I wasn't worried about that.) But the Google connection has me convinced I will refuse to sign up for OnStar and remove the module permanently.
 
The human doesn't have time to listen to everything that is said in the car. I don't want Google to hear and store a summary of all my conversations. That is too creepy for me.

Now that it is clear that the OnStar module is easy to access, I was thinking I might subscribe and just disconnect it whenever I go for an enthusiastic drive in the mountains. (My daily driving on ordinary roads is pretty gentle - last speeding ticket was in 1985 - so I wasn't worried about that.) But the Google connection has me convinced I will refuse to sign up for OnStar and remove the module permanently.
Please read the article. The car is not listening to you. They are using generative AI to respond to your questions, that's it. It even says it right in the article:

"The OnStar IVA assists with common inquiries initiated by the non–emergency OnStar blue button push in GM vehicle."

You push the button, you ask it a question, and GM and Google use a LMM to interpret your question and answer appropriately. What people are saying here are active scare tactics, or complete naivety about what is happening. The answers you all seek are in the article.
 
You push the button, you ask it a question, and GM and Google use a LMM to interpret your question and answer appropriately. What people are saying here are active scare tactics, or complete naivety about what is happening. The answers you all seek are in the article.
Believing that requires a level of trust in Google and GM that I don't have.
 
Got my LN report today and nothing about driving behavior on it. I never enrolled in Smart Driver (or whatever the f*ck it's called) and throughout all the app updates it never turned on.

It’s very strange that for some the app is automatically opting in. It seems hard to understand how the algorithm could be random and suspect there are some common factors involved. Maybe the dealerships did something?
 
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Just an FYI that EVEN IF YOUR ONSTAR SUBSCRIPTION IS CANCELED/EXPIRED it will still send telemetry data. You ABSOLUTELY NEED TO OPT OUT using the app, or by calling them.

I got mine today and it has hundreds of entries from my previous CTS-V YEARS after my onstar sub had expired. But only one single entry for my blackwing since I opted out on day 2 of ownership.
 
Just an FYI that EVEN IF YOUR ONSTAR SUBSCRIPTION IS CANCELED/EXPIRED it will still send telemetry data. You ABSOLUTELY NEED TO OPT OUT using the app, or by calling them.

I got mine today and it has hundreds of entries from my previous CTS-V YEARS after my onstar sub had expired. But only one single entry for my blackwing since I opted out on day 2 of ownership.

Are you saying your CTS data was within your Cadillac app or your LN report? In that one NYT article it mentioned driving data only being stored in the LN report for 6 months
 
Are you saying your CTS data was within your Cadillac app or your LN report? In that one NYT article it mentioned driving data only being stored in the LN report for 6 months
I sold my CTS-V and bought my BW in January of this year so I still have some data (on the LN report) from the old car there, even though I had no active onstar subscription on it.
 
I sold my CTS-V and bought my BW in January of this year so I still have some data (on the LN report) from the old car there, even though I had no active onstar subscription on it.
Ahh man, so much for that data only being available for 6 months on a LN pull My report stopped at the 6 month mark so was hopeful that was true
 

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