OnStar Gives Volt Owners What They Want: Their Data, In the Cloud 92
Volt owners will be able to brag about their mileage more easily now thanks to OnStar. "GM rushed work on a new API to get a popular Volt owner site back on road. You probably don't think of your car as a developer platform, but Mike Rosack did. A few days after buying his Chevy Volt, Rosack started slowly mining his driving data. But he eventually revved up his efforts and created a community platform for drivers to track their own efficiency. Today more than 1,800 Volt owners compare stats with each other, jockeying for position on Rosack's Volt Stats leader board."
developer platform (Score:5, Insightful)
Sadly, you might soon have to, in the sense that you'll need to [pdf] [mcafee.com] keep your security patches up to date...
And there is... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet another reason i'll never buy an onstar equipped car. Hands too much control to people you already paid once...
They can pull the plug on this at any time. or start charging for the data. or anything else scummy you can think of.. and you can do nothing about it.
I like computers. i really do. but i really dont want them in my car... or connected to the 'cloud'. it's stupid. If you're going that far where you need updates and connectivity for your car and official updates the dealer must install. (prius)
You're better off just renting a car. You're going to be paying forever to drive. They might as well be responsible for way more crap than what they are now.
Egh. (Score:2, Insightful)
It's amazing how "cloud" is now anything you transfer through the Internet.
Re:But, (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean a surcharge for not sharing it with your insurance company.
I was thinking to buy a Volt... (Score:3, Insightful)
But I'd like to make sure there is an opt-out (or better yet an opt-in) for this "service". I don't want my stats and/or whereabouts transmitted to anyone without my explicit knowledge/agreement.
Can anyone who may have one of these things confirm that this private data is something I don't have to be transmitting to some random company? I noticed the word "privacy" was mentioned 2x in the article, but both times it seemed to be to satisfy OnStar's requirements.
What's the scoop on this? It's been a while since I've bought a new car. Is this like, standard now?
Re:But, (Score:4, Insightful)
EXACTLY.
I am quite pleased and proud that none of my vehicles share information with ANYONE in the "Cloud." Just because something CAN be done [that is "kewl"], doesn't necessarily make it a great idea.
Re:Just stay out of the fast lane. (Score:2, Insightful)
So, if they aren't driving a Prius, Volt, or any other car which is embraced by idiots who
are delusional enough to imagine their car will save the planet, then driving slow in the left lane is OK?
Re:Just stay out of the fast lane. (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't know where you are, but if you drive your car in the carpool lane around here, and you're not driving at rush hour speeds during rush hour, you're going to get run over by at least one Prius - mine.
Re:But, (Score:3, Insightful)
The difference between a discount for sharing and an additional charge for not sharing is purely semantics. Both just mean that you'll pay more if you don't share. The only difference is which price you declare as base one. If you declare the lower price as standard, the higher means an additional charge, while if you declare the higher price as standard, the lower one means a discharge. Which one you declare as base price depends only on your marketing strategy. If you think you can better compete by making your base price as low as possible, you'll take the lower price as base price and hide the extra charges for not sharing in the fine print. If you think you can better compete by giving discounts, you declare the higher price as base price and market the savings possible when sharing as loudly as possible.