Is your car spying on you? What it means that Tesla shared data in the Las Vegas explosion

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/tesla-las-vegas-explosion-cybertruck-elon-musk-789dc864a0c138fd7c36ca8c94b0fbfd

Is your car spying on you? What it means that Tesla shared data in the Las Vegas explosion
By BERNARD CONDON
Updated 8:00 AM CST, January 4, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — Your car is spying on you.

That is one takeaway from the fast, detailed data that Tesla collected on the driver of one of its Cybertrucks that exploded in Las Vegas earlier this week. Privacy data experts say the deep dive by Elon Musk’s company was impressive, but also shines a spotlight on a difficult question as vehicles become less like cars and more like computers on wheels.

Many of the latest cars not only know where you’ve been and where you are going, but also often have access to your contacts, your call logs, your texts and other sensitive information thanks to cell phone syncing.

The data collected by Musk’s electric car company after the Cybertruck packed with fireworks burst into flames in front of the Trump International Hotel Wednesday proved valuable to police in helping track the driver’s movements.

Within hours of the New Year’s Day explosion that burned the driver beyond recognition and injured seven, Tesla was able to track Matthew Livelsberger’s movements in detail from Denver to Las Vegas, and also confirm that the problem was explosives in the truck, not the truck itself. Tesla used data collected from charging stations and from onboard software -- and to great acclaim.

“I have to thank Elon Musk, specifically,” said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill to reporters. “He gave us quite a bit of additional information.“

Some privacy experts were less enthusiastic.

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[cachukis]

1. Yes. I was called in for my 5000 mile tire rotation and

checkup, right at 5000 miles. They knew my mileage.

[snot]

2. Those who shrugged and said "I've got nothing to hide"

assumed there'd never be anyone at the controls of our mushrooming surveillance systems* who wasn't a smart, well-intentioned person.

I wouldn't make that assumption.

________________

*which now include pretty much every device we've got.

[rickford66]

3. Didn't the On Star system do some of this ?

[drray23]

4. yes i dont have a tesla but my car also sends telemetry and data to the mothership (nissan)

Its an option you can turn on/off. It monitors the general status of your car, reminds you when to do an oil change, detects if there are any other issues and warns you accordingly.

[ItsjustMe]

5. Let's say your car doesn't have a computer.

Most large cities have license plate readers everywhere. Not just police cars, but on other city vehicles and city busses. Some private businesses also use them, like repo men. All of that data Is kept In the computer's database and used to locate where a vehicle has been when needed.

[Girard442]

6. An old joke was...

..."It's hard to stay paranoid enough just to keep up."

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

7. A lot of your electronic gear has data on you

Most notably your cell phone.