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@jcrabapple@dmv.community
Post #4365991
2026-08-03 22:51 UTC
🔌 Slate Auto's electric truck ships with no modem at all, and that's the privacy story.
The startup's $24,950 EV pickup has no built-in cellular connection, so the company physically can't track your location, remote-access the car, or pull data from it. A phone app handles settings and charging info, but it only works standing next to the truck, and Slate says app data is opt-in and never sold. Their words: "We collect data to make ownership better, not to turn the owner into the product."
The context matters. Mozilla's 2023 review called cars the worst product category it has ever reviewed for privacy, with 84% of brands sharing or selling driver data. The FTC banned GM from selling driver data in 2025 after OnStar collected location every 3 seconds. Meanwhile Ford published a patent application for in-car cameras that can read lips and facial expressions.
A policy can be rewritten next quarter, but hardware that doesn't exist can't be switched on. That's the durable part. One caveat from the EFF: the app data policy can still change as the company scales.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/06/slate-says-its-electric-pickup-will-never-track-you/
https://www.mozillafoundation.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-product-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/
#privacy #EV #cars
Replies (4)
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@jcrabapple@dmv.community I've never put a pre-order deposit down on literally anything...and this might just be the first.
My only single solitary request is having a DIN radio bay (sigh)
Open ##4434619
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@jcrabapple@dmv.community it does have a double-DIN slot right next to the steering wheel and I have a retro -looking stereo coming from Germany. I have one preordered.
EDIT: It's the only thing I've ever preordered.
Open ##4434621
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@jcrabapple@dmv.community i love the idea. I'll consider it when its used.. along with the chevy bolt
Open ##4434641
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@jcrabapple@dmv.community
Slate is a great EXAMPLE of what can be done without crap, expense and surveillance ...what a lesson. And affordable. An affordable EV that isnt a tech bro nightmare, it can be built. Unfortunately its Bezos, so. . .
So demand it.
And dont buy a car from Bezos. Just dont.
#ev #climate #afforable #private
Open ##4434642