[VortexLain]

It would have been much better to be able to disable telemetry without losing basic functionality such as navigation and safety updates. Having to choose between being spied on and having no connectivity at all is a false dichotomy.

[caymanjim]

Any connectivity at all is telemetry. The connection itself reveals where you are. Navigation reveals where you are down to the meter, along with everywhere you've been, where you're going, speed, etc. What else are you worried about if not that?

[kelnos]

It reveals where you are to the cell towers, but not to the car company. My phone already reveals where I am based on its cellular connectivity, so I'm not too worried about that.

[smotched]

what telemetry are you worried about if you're already sharing your exact location at all times (navigation)

[mingus88]

I’m not OP but I just want to point out that navigation doesn’t need to mean I am always sharing telemetry with multiple third parties

I have a garmin watch which is great for overland hiking, multiple day expeditions etc

I download the maps and the watch has GPS to plot where I am on that map. My watch doesn’t have an eSIM at all.

Rivian is an adventure brand so if they wanted to design a maps system like that, where I am not continually downloading tiles from open maps or google and sending my location to them and others, they probably could

I just don’t think they have space for those types of features most people don’t care about while they are trying to compete in a rough industry and deliver new vehicles

[samplatt]

It's telling just how completely successful the social media revolution has been, when we don't remember that two short decades ago 3rd-party car navigation options that relied on maps loaded on the device and GPS input and that's all. No SIM cards (though they could have done so at the time), no telemetry.

The experience was even comparable to today's experience - I've been auto-routed around a road closure, like, twice in 5 years? And it _failed_ to route me around a road closure probably twice as well?

[kelnos]

Why would you be sharing that? There's no reason why the navigation system needs to constantly tell a remote system where you are. Navigation systems don't even need an Internet connection for basic routing.

[smotched]

Navigation through gps means you're connected to a satelite at all times. has nothing to do with an internet connection. You're directly connected to the U.S. government (Space Force)

[lefra]

A GPS receiver is passive, it doesn't send any signal to the satellites. The satellite broadcast their position and what time it is from their point of view, and the receiver computes its position from that.

Also, there are now several countries that sent positioning constellations (obviously to not have to rely on the US for positioning), and most receivers support several: GPS (US), Galileo (Europe), Glonass (Russia), Beidu (China).

[VortexLain]

GPS and other similar technologies work by passively listening to the satellite signals without having to respond to them in any manner. Location is calculated based on time it took for the signal from difficult beacons to arrive.