Tesla Cabin Camera has major privacy concerns: consumer reports

Tesla’s new camera (No. 7 in the image above, of the instruction manual) looks at you and sends images and video along with data back to the company. Consumer Reports is not keen on it and has some privacy concerns. All that and more in it The morning shift before March 24, 2021.

First Gear: Privacy issues unlike what you get in a Cadillac

The latest Teslas have something like a ‘cabin camera’, which monitors the driver to see if the person is pay attention. This is a crucial part from Level 2 driver assistance systems such as Tesla’s.

While these cars can do a lot to get you on the road, it is tons that they cannot do. The car will regularly be forced to hand over control to the driver, and if a driver is not paying attention during any of these transfers, it can turn deadly fast. Having a camera in the car to monitor drivers digitally makes sense.

The problem with Tesla’s system is that it sends actual images and video, and that video can be buried later, like Consumer reports details:

Tesla’s driver-facing camera is located above the rearview mirror Model 3 and Model Y vehicles – which the carmaker calls a ‘cabin camera’ – are turned off by default. When drivers turn on the cab camera, Tesla says it will record and share a video clip of pre-crash or automatic emergency braking (AEB) activation to help the automaker “develop future safety features and software improvements,” Tesla’s website said. Tesla did not respond to CR’s email request for additional information about its in-car monitoring systems.

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John Davisson, senior advisor at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), says such closed-loop systems do not pose the same privacy concerns as a system that records or transmits data or video.

“Anytime video is recorded, it can be opened later,” says Davisson.

Do I want a video of me driving a Tesla in the hands of Tesla? No, I really don’t. Tesla claims it won’t do anything shameful with the data, but Consumer Reports notes that nothing is stopping Tesla from doing shady things with it. Tesla is incentivized to do gross things with the video, such as use it to blame drivers, not protect them:

Instead, says [Kelly Funkhouser, CR’s program manager for vehicle interface testing]Tesla appears to be using cameras to its advantage. “We’ve already seen Tesla blame the driver for not immediately paying attention to news reports of an accident while a driver is using Autopilot,” she says. “Now Tesla can use video to prove that a driver is distracted, rather than address the reasons why the driver is not paying attention at all.”

There’s nothing to stop Tesla from using all of this new consumer data “for other business purposes,” as Consumer Reports also explained. There are additional privacy concerns as well, as passengers in the car don’t necessarily consent to be admitted, and even the drivers who do consent may not be aware of all the data Tesla collects.

When I saw this, I immediately thought that CR must be biased. Cadillac also has a camera that observes drivers using the Super Cruise driver assistance system. As it turns out, the Cadillac system is significantly more privacy-safe, like Consumer reports explains:

A GM spokesperson says vehicles equipped with Super Cruise driver assistance systems have a camera that works with infrared lights to determine the driver’s eye and head position. (This includes the 2021 Cadillac CT4 CT5, and Escalade, and the upcoming 2022 GMC Hummer EV.) When Super Cruise detects distraction or restriction, it triggers an escalating series of alerts for the driver to look out for. The system does not capture images, store information, or share image information with GM, the automaker told CR.

In general, it seems like you need a camera in your car to make sure you’re always paying attention, even though your car usually takes control until the moment everything goes wrong, the whole system itself breaks down.

2nd gear: park your ram outside as there is an incendiary recall

Do you have a heavy ram? Get it from your cavernous garage, like Automotive News warns:

Stellantis is recalling more than 20,000 heavy Ram diesel trucks worldwide due to a problem that could cause fire in the engine compartment.

The affected vehicles include 2021 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups and 3500, 4500 and 5500 chassis cabs equipped with a Cummins 6.7 liter turbo diesel engine. In the US, the recall concerns approximately 19,200 vehicles. It also includes a further 685 vehicles in Canada and 223 in select markets outside of North America.

In a document filed with US vehicle safety regulatorsthe automaker formerly known as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said the vehicles “could experience an engine compartment fire due to an electrical short in the intake air heater relay, potentially leading to a vehicle fire,” regardless of whether the ignition is on or off.

Be thankful you even have a garage big enough to fit a heavy Ram I guess.

3rd gear: new Chinese truck brand called ‘Tank’

Why mess around? When you’re launching a new truck brand, go ahead and call it what you want people to think about it: an indestructible mass of everything-crushing steel. That’s what Great Wall has done, if Reuters reports:

hina’s Great Wall Motor will launch a new standalone brand for its off-road vehicles, said Chairman Wei Jianjun, as automakers pursue new segments as sales pick up in the world’s largest auto market.

Wei said Great Wall, the nation’s top pickup maker, plans to launch the “Tank” brand during the Shanghai auto show this year in April.

If Great Wall had any idea it would provide a real tank at the top of the model range.

4th gear: Fiat cuts toilets

Stellantis wants to cut costs, and that affects Fiat employees where it counts: their bathrooms. Fiat factories cut toilets and clean shifts Reuters reports, an unwise move during COVID:

Cost savings at Fiat’s factories in Italy have led to cuts in cleaning services and the number of toilets available to employees, according to unions.

Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, the new group formed in January from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group, said that production costs in factories in Italy are up to four times higher than in the car manufacturer’s factories in France or Spain.

Tavares has said the carmaker will not cut jobs or close factories, but has pledged to save more than 5 billion euros ($ 5.94 billion) a year after the merger.

A good way to look like a terrible boss is to mess with the toilet situation.

5th gear: having an algorithm for a manager is inhumane and leads to strikes: investigation

There has been a wave of strikes from gig drivers in China, and a new study points to a clear problem: their managers are algorithms. A new study detailed in technical site rest of the world explains it:

Earlier this month, dozens of drivers For Chinese e-commerce giant Meituan, took to the streets of Linyi, Shenzhen and Tongxiang to protest a new policy that would cut the amount they received per delivery. The demonstrations are part of a growing recoil to e-commerce companies in China about the way they treat their employees. While there were fewer protests during the pandemic in 2020, strikes in China involving delivery drivers almost fivefold estimated between 2018 and 2019. In January, a driver set himself on fire in the city of Taizhou to protest unpaid wages.

A new study Harvard researcher Ya-Wen Lei found that the way Chinese companies manage gig workers – operationally, legally, even down to the technology used – can make them feel more like a strike or protest is their only recourse. Lei’s research, published in the American Sociological Review late last month, suggests that the way technology platforms treat their workforce could fuel labor unrest and come as one number of countries consider giving gig workers more rights from traditional workers.

Who could have imagined that workers would feel that strikes are their only recourse if managed by a faceless, indifferent computer?

Downside: good thing oil spills don’t happen anymore!