#cars

Nobody understands the point of hybrid cars

Technology Connections · EN

Bloatware in Aftermarket Auto Parts

This story is interesting: One Civic owner purchased a cheap aftermarket head unit off Amazon, and decided to have Claude work its magic on it, like it would a smart TV. What was reportedly discovered isn’t surprising, but is worth knowing about. Among the pre-installed bloatware—­or spyware, if you’re being less charitable­—was a voice assistant equipped with WebView, an Android system component that lets apps display content off the web. This apparently always used about a third of processing power, even while idle, which isn’t great. There were also Baidu location services, a call recorder

Schneier on Security · EN

Ford promises not to sell your driving habits to data brokers

Ford vowed to never sell customer driving data to third-party data brokers as part of a new privacy promise aimed at setting the automaker apart from competitors that have faced legal and regulatory blowback for sharing telematics with data brokers without authorization. As part of its new promise, Ford says it will strive to protect […]

The Verge · EN

BMW is taking on Tesla’s FSD with urban driver assist starting in 2027

BMW says that it will expand its navigation-guided, partially automated driving capabilities into urban environments starting in 2027, launching first in Germany with other markets to follow. The new system can help steer, speed up, and slow down the vehicle on both highways and city streets using its built-in GPS navigation. While driving in town, […]

The Verge · EN

F1 in Mexico City: Yet another Ferrari fiasco, but that’s not all

There was plenty of drama on and off the track for Formula 1 this weekend.

Ars Technica · EN