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139 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -11/+90Seems like a good idea, but are developments in this type of monitoring and surveillance enhancing the image of a George Orwell Big Brother style society. Before you know it this type of technology will be used to track the speed and vehicles and automatically ticket those which breaks the speed :(
- wild, on 10/12/2007, -0/+57This would have made the OJ trial a lot less interesting.
- McPotiphar, on 10/11/2007, -1/+49Don't miss that car payment......
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -4/+34I think your parents would be happy if you got ANY sort of job at this point.
- daz197, on 10/13/2007, -4/+32Of course, if it's anything like the old onstar, then you just pull a fuse, deactivate it, and steal the car anyway. More corporate ***** about offering salvation and delivering *****.
- YellowJKT, on 10/11/2007, -9/+37That's going waaaay too far!
Some 12 year old punk will hack the car, making it a living hell out of an ordinary sunday drive.
Does anyone remember the NetBus virus? OK. Now picture that kind of madness with your car speakers randomly blaring loud music. CD tray ejecting over and over. Or maybe your car just "reboots". You tell me. - craftyguy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+19Sorry you lose.
Unless you are driving a pre-1990's car, and plan to do so until you drop dead, good luck finding a car which DOESNT have a computer in it to control timings, fuel ratios, sensor monitoring, self-diagnostic checks, etc. - dcormier, on 10/11/2007, -1/+19Did you know that OnStar can also be used to unlock cars remotely? That's been a feature for a number of years in case, for example, you lock your keys in the car.
Can you find any cases where that's been misused? - turpenine, on 10/10/2007, -1/+16because putting a remote system in the brakes is a lot cheaper than a remote system for the whole driving mechanisms.
- LMaxey, on 10/28/2007, -0/+14That's nothing. My car blue screened last week.
- smackjack, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13My car keeps crashing. It needs a better driver.
- catalysis, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13Did you guys miss the part where they say it is an optional service?
- kweee, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12Let me know when you can blow it up remotely. Then we'll talk.
- DangerCollie, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12Yeah, this is brilliant. Right up until the local gangs figure out how to hack the system. "Yo, this is JonStar. And we gonna be stoppin' your car, yo. See the hommies right outside? Those gentlemen will be gang bangin' your country club ass." Then the car stops and doors open and your girlfriend is lunch.
- danandre, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9Ah yes, NetBus ... good times.
- fkr3, on 10/10/2007, -5/+14You'd be surprised how much revenue speeding tickets generate....
What I want to know is, if they can remotely slow it down why don't they just remotely drive it to a cop station? - gr3yn3t, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8They already do this in Illinois. You get a ticket in the mail if the time between 2 toll booths averages you over 75 mph (in a 55 zone)
- carpespasm, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8or just get pretty much any motorcycle under $6000. They're almost all carbed and use direct brake lines. That and you get a feel for how well its running by how it feels and sounds, so you do the sensoring and diagnostic yourself.
- jn1167, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Thats all fine but what if they just unhook the OnStar system?? Then what? Thats what they did with my car. When the cops finally ran into it they found that the onstar was removed. Probably within the first few mins. Only system that will stop theft is a sniper rifle out my window ;)
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Or a trunk monkey.
- heystoopid, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6You forget the FBI Security letter is all they ever need now !
- strictnein, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7It's a good thing all corporate networks are 100% secure.
- steppinrazor, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Technically the chase, because the trial was not all that interesting.
- KLowD9x, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5A lot of GM vehicles have On-Star as a standard now, and I know that even if you don't get their service, if you activate the "SOS" (I believe you have to hold down two buttons for 3 seconds), it will still call On-Star emergency services.
- Player0ne, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6First off you would have to be in the stolen vehicle department of onstar then you would have to authorized to do so and everything there is audited on a weekly basis. (the GF works there)
- capiCrimm, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5if your not controlling the fuel ratio by hand, your not driving! Seriously, I lean my car by hand.
- DrPh0bius, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7@Armand2007: Several rent-a-car companies already do this. There was a story a while backon the consumerist in which the person rented the car, turned it in, and found his credit card billed for over $1000.00
In the end, the company (Hertz maybe? I dont recall) said that the GPS (they had a proprietary name for it, but it was basically a GPS/OnStar system) reported him going 80mph in a 60mph zone for severalperiods of time and assesed him fines for it. Apparently its in "the fine print" of the contract. I dont know if he fought it successfully, but the point is that what you mentioned is hardly a "tin foil hat" scenario as some have chalked it up to be.
Several car companies in my area who sell to people with poor/no credit use a similar system. If you are late with your payment they disable your car by satillite so that the next time you turn the engine off, it will not restart. Imnot debating the right or wrong of it, but it is a system that is very open to abuse.
Hell, at one point people were lauding the arrival of tazers in the hands of law enforcment as a good alternative... I think we see how that has come to be abused ("dont taze me bro" not withstanding, lol).
@catalysis: there are already a good number of Ford and GM vehicles (built in the last couple of years) out there that are relaying perfomance and emmissions information to satillites without the knowledge or consent of the owners... or at least the manufacturers CLAIM its only that data.
This is a slippery slope. Everyone needs to stop and consider past things that everyone has said "they would never do that" about... - MasterThief117, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Sounds like a good idea, until the car jacker is on a highway with my car and bam, the car slows, causing some jackass on their cell phone to slam into my car.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Radio in on your kid "I TOLD you not to go to that party! I'm driving you and all of your friends home now!" Have to have an on screen camera in the fron and back of the car of course.
- jangeador, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Watch out for POW... (pissed off wives) and this technology. Next thing you know the car will drive you home with the Anti-Bar-Hopping device.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4The next type of flame wars, "Sry you use cardoze thats *****, I only use the open cars, carnux. Cardoze constantly made me crash."
- capiCrimm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5the problem is that it *could* happen.. There is no reason the government couldn't mandate something like this. If we had ubiquitous free WiFi, you could imagine a government checking what road your on currently and capping your car speed. Although, speeding tickets would probably be more likely. Or perhaps it could make you stop at red lights and for ambulances.
Not necessarily going to happen, but its not impossible either. - trogdoor, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4That is why they require cops to be in sight of the vehicle to enable it.
- JudgeMonkey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Everything involving human suffering can be, and usually is, very funny. No exceptions.
- turpenine, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6because $10 a month is way ***** expensive.
- Trublmakr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Anyone I've met who's actually had their car stolen would prefer a remotely triggered explosive spike up through the drivers seat. Slow engine going too far - no way,.. not even close.
- ThemUser, on 10/10/2007, -9/+12The govt will exploit this like they exploited the carnivore system (see this link http://www.asktheadmin.com/2007/07/be-afraid-be-ve ... )
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Inaccurate. Title claims this "hits the brakes on jacked cars". RTFA. It doesn't touch the breaks. It just shuts off the engine.
That's quite a bit safer. - inactive, on 10/28/2007, -1/+4That would be hilarious, people pull up next to you crunching on a laptop and all of a sudden you fly off the road, as long as I wasn't getting run off the road of course.
- Teej, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Just generally Japanese cars FTW.
- zdiggler, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3heh, one a modified vette.
OnStar : Welcome to OnStar how may I assist you.
Driver : can you tell me how fast am i going, speedometer on this car seems to be broken.
OnStar : sir you're doing 160mph on 65 you gotta slow down...
that's how you get verified bragging rights. - MtheoryX, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3On a new car, every bit adds up quite quickly.
OnStar, satellite radio, extended warranties and maintenance packages, roadside service, plating, insurance, permits...these are all factors in the TCO for the car.
Makes it seem like that "sticker" cost of the car is an absolute joke compared to what you really pay for the car. - KLowD9x, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I understand that, but just because the subscription to their "Feature Packed" service expires, that doesn't mean that the On-Star communication and integration module disappears also.
- mruocky, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3DON'T BUY A GM CAR WITH ONSTAR. Very simple solution.
- Anonymous3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Re: revenue, it came up in my local news recently that with the addition of just one fixed speeding camera watching over a popular motorway, the state government netted over $1.2 million in the financial year following its installation.
- sato, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2OnStar is generally included for one year and then you have to pay.
- toastgodsupreme, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Honestly, that's pretty ingenious. While getting a ticket sucks, you gotta admit that that system is pretty nice. No need for cops on that stretch of road due to the automatic speed monitoring. But then... hrmmmmm, no cops huh? >_>
*gets shovel and lime* - GhostFreeman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Yeah, I feel safe knowing my stolen car will slow down in traffic and threaten many lives, not including the thief.
What the hell, GM. - obxjdt, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2It there.....All you have to do is call OnStar, and ask them to heat/cool your car for you....
- zdiggler, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2you know what be nice with onstar. in a cold day working in downtown of metro city in a cold windy day, you remote start fob is too far to work. OnStar have a cellphone service so it will be nice to call a automated system to have the car warm up. as you're leaving your desk.
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