Buckle up for meetings on the road as Cisco brings Webex to Audi autos Nothing says Happy Friday like news that Cisco is trying to help your boss pry yet more of your time and personal space from you: the Webex collaboration app will be equipped in select Audi cars from next year. The networking biz has said it is working with the Volkswagen Group's software developer CARIAD and Samsung …
A mate of mine when considering a new car went to look at a few manufacturers showroom models. He explained at the start of each visit he didn’t want anything connecting the car to the web, the mobile network or anything like that. When one of the sales blokes (who was just a bit too matey) asked why not, my mate told me he replied
“Because I’m banging this amazingly hot blonde with the most amazing tits and I don’t want my wife finding out.”
That stopped any further discussion about connectivity apparently. He isn’t actually married and just doesn’t like the idea of car companies having a link to his car.
Is that you have to PAY for this connectivity. Which makes sense, it requires a SIM for the mobile connection and the telcos don't provide service for free. So while my Audi came with these types of connected features you have to pay something like $300 a year for them. I use Carplay on my iPhone for stuff like maps and can use "hey Siri" to ask questions, make a call or whatever, so I don't need any of that stuff and thus don't pay for it so the built in connectivity features no longer function for me.
The SIM is still there even if isn't being paid for so I guess Audi can track my car, but IIRC even if you don't pay it can still call emergency response if you're in an accident so I don't plan to go out of my way to figure out where the SIM is installed and remove it. I mean, Verizon can track my phone which is a lot more accurate indication of my location than where my car is so I guess I'm less concerned about having my car tracked than I would have been before I started basically carrying a personal tracking device with me wherever I go!
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This suggests that the guy in charge of privacy there has probably retired - I met him, and I don't think they would have ever gotten that extra bit of spying on users past him (it's a US company, after all). That said, (a) it's optional, (b) depends on whatever data plan is around and (c) maybe they have deployed used the same solution as they did with Google (Google doesn't get any data, it's proxied) but that strikes me as near impossible with Web(s)ex.
Very much not a good idea - the clever approach would have been to run their own service from their HQ as safer (and cheaper) solutions already exist and need nothing more than a decent browser.
That said, what else are you going to do if you're going to have to wait around for at least half an hour to recharge, and that's only if there's a charge point free?
> what else are you going to do if you're going to have to wait around for at least half an hour to recharge
Recharge yourself.
Take a nap; take a short walk; read a book; write a love letter; paint an abstract; sketch a tree; needlefelt a gnome; sandpaper a birdbox; scrimshaw; knit a pair of socks; survey the flora; crochet an octopus for premature babies; practice your Latin; go to Greggs; do calisthenics; form a support group with the other drivers; laugh maniacally; ...
Audi does not support remote start even in the US, because German law prohibits that. If you want remote start you have to get it installed aftermarket.
Surely if German law doesn't allow remote start it doesn't allow a videoconference on your dashboard display while you are driving?! I would be kind of annoyed if this is also violates German law but they decided to offer in the US because Cisco is paying them, while still restricting the far more useful remote start.
Christ on a bike, can't we just be allowed to disconnect from the Matrix sometimes. We wonder why suicides rates in the West are rocketing, stress related health issues driving every one mad. Obsession with staying connected to work and other people 24/7, just f**k off and let people switch off. You gave me a job, you pay me to do a job and I do it, when I leave work I expect you leave me the hell alone, unless I'm on call and getting paid as such. All other times I need to switch off, I need to forget about work, go do something else to clear my head. If people don't switch off they become anywhere up to 80% less productive, which means you're basically paying to only get 1/5th of my ability to work 'cos you would cut me some slack and some free time.
stranger than fiction!
If I want to use internet on the fly, I take a train or a bus.
The bus has an onboard router, as do a number of trains.
This way PLOD can't chase me for doing (illegal) mobile stuff while driving, and plod is getting increasingly sophisticated detecting when you are up to it.
In my car I installed my own router,- on the basis the children like to do something on long distance trips, and partner can look up stuff at fibre optic speeds.
+
One of the main hassles with in car data systems is roaming.
This might not occur to yankees who don't need this function, but us here in EU need it, cos each country border entails a jump from network to (roaming) network, and lots of routers fall over, or limit the amount of data that can be used away from the HOME network.
FN - 72578 - Cisco IOS XE - Smart Licensing Using Policy Might Cause High CPU/Memory Usage
The times I’ve tried using the WiFi on a train or on a National Express coach, nothing has worked. Happily streaming some Tv programme in the coach station, then stream drops the second the coach moves off. I’m told rail companies get through some inordinate amount of 4G data, but I do wonder if the data it tries to carry is actually useful to anyone.
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