I wouldnt expect any vehicle to only work from a network connection as a lot of people regularly live or park their car outside of cellular and wifi coverage, I guess thats why they say to take your keys/rfid card with you
“Gig also told me is that they offer RFID card where you kind of scan the card to get into the car. So in the case that you don't have cell service or Bluetooth, you can still get into your car.”
Unlocking through the app requires server and phone cell signal. Phone (Blutooth) unlocking and key card unlocking do NOT require connectivity. That would be dumb, phone cell signal doesn't work everywhere.
Source: I have a Model 3, and frequently park in locations with 0 cell coverage.
Most new cars do have a constant data connection though, including directly to the main CAN bus, where it has been proven that people can steal your car without a key or even disable it remotely. You shouldn't buy any of those cars either...
There is definitely some functionality that works when offline. Phones are the primary key for Model 3 and that works fine when unlocking the car in subterranean garages that have no reception.
Yes, otherwise it would be unusable by anyone living in a city, given that underground parking (esp multi-level one) tends to have no reception at all. Not even mentioning driving through countryside stretches on road trips.
The only things that won't work with no cell connection while you are in the car are things like spotify app in the car (but you can still use spotify through the car bluetooth connected to your phone, if you preloaded the songs on your phone) or being able to see live stats of the car in your phone app.
It’s not dependent. You have a physical keycard that lets you start and drive the car. The app also lets you start and drive the car with no internet over Bluetooth. The only thing not working here was the OTA remote administration of the car. The article is misleading.
Would the NFT-locked car require a live blockchain connection and refuse to open its doors if it hasn’t been able to sync its node after a certain time? So you’d get locked out of your car if mobile Internet goes down?
If it doesn’t do this, then you can steal the car by selling the NFT, simultaneously disabling the car’s Internet connection, and driving off. Now the NFT is held by one person but the physical car is held by another.
Is "no network access" going to be part of the legal framework under which the vehicles operate? Presumably they need to download maps from somewhere, along with traffic updates, road hazards, etc. Most new cars have network capabilities as it now stands. So it's unreasonable to assume that they won't have any network access. And as we know, anything with network access can eventually be rooted.
Hopefully it doesn't need a network connection to drive...
But if doesn't have a network connection, and manual intervention is required, that's just like the "sensor failed" case except you might have to rely on the passengers contacting waymo to tell them where the car is. Which they'll be motivated too since they are somewhat stranded.
The network connection is a pretty fundamental part of the vehicle software architecture and a lot of things depend on it.
Which is very worrying when you stop and think about it. If anything that actually matters is reliant on anything not travelling with you then that can not be a good sign for the safety and security of the vehicle. For one thing any vehicle that has any open incoming connectivity of any kind immediately has an attack vector for malware. And in this case that could literally be a matter of life and death and it could literally be used to attack thousands or even millions of vehicles simultaneously.
The closest I can think of to any legitimate phone home feature is an automatic emergency call function that is triggered by a collision or theft being detected. But of course it's very easy to specify that those features may only be activated from the vehicle side and may only be used to contact emergency services.
Anything else like GPS or infotainment does not need to be integrated at all with the essential vehicle systems or emergency communications functions and can be subject to the usual safeguards like any other device - including an off switch if the owner chooses not to use it and requirements to opt in for any potentially intrusive behaviour.
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