Vehicle telematics

[northwest]

and connectivity. My new car has "an App". I can connect to my car from my office or house, about 50 feet away via the App on my phone and check loads of stuff, including locking it. However, I can also do this when the car is in ASDA car park and I am in the shop.
How does it do this, I have never put a SIM card in it or connected it to any network, the only thing I have done is pair my phone with it. How does it do this? If it's important it is a Mazda.

 

[jmp49]

Its a e-sim provided by mazda, but I dont expect its going to be around forever for free. See :

Mazda Connected Services Discontinued: What It Means for Owners

Mazda’s Connected Services have given owners remote access to their vehicles, offering features like remote start, lock/unlock, and vehicle status updates through a smartphone app. However, some owners have found that these features are no

www.cherishyourcar.com

The wife's Seat MII has almost the same deal, you pay for a dongle that gives you access when its new, and buried in the small print is the fact it comes with x years subscription as part of that, but they reserve the right to shut it down in future when it suits them and all the data goes through them that they can sell onto a data broker.

 

[RWD3M]

My old (now) Jag has (had) this. I could be having my breakfast in the house and tell the car sitting outside to start itself and warm up ready for when I wanted to drive to work. Handy in the winter but really only a solution to a first world problem!

 

[julianthegypsy]

My old (now) Jag has (had) this. I could be having my breakfast in the house and tell the car sitting outside to start itself and warm up ready for when I wanted to drive to work. Handy in the winter but really only a solution to a first world problem!

Very handy in Alberta when it's 30 below and the car is covered in ice!

 

[jmp49]

With a EV like the Mii, you can set it to warm the interior, heat the seats and defrost the front and rear windscreen while its still hooked up to mains power outside, then when you go out, you turn off the interior and demisters and just run the seat heater for comfort which goes a small way to compensate for range loss in winter from battery performance in freezing temps.

I just wish SEAT didnt take the scummy route and send all the data through their servers with no local connect option (it can see the house wifi from the parking...), because their servers are often down or flaky telling you the door or bootlid is open when its not, and the car itself knows this too. It also makes monitoring it myself more difficult, and when they shut the free sub down, I'll find a way to bypass this...

 

[frank horton]

N.W.
sounds great until it all goes wrong...hahaha....
My reg driver has no electronics at all.....
it did have--only the alarm...which went in the bin the day aftyer I bought it....

 

[atomant48]

My Volvo has it. The subscription lasts 3 years from memory then you pay 49 a year or something. It does get used - messages us if you’ve left it unlocked (we do that a lot for some reason) and the remote start in winter is useful.

 

[Smallfry]

My old (now) Jag has (had) this. I could be having my breakfast in the house and tell the car sitting outside to start itself and warm up ready for when I wanted to drive to work. Handy in the winter but really only a solution to a first world problem!

Maybe so, but in the third world (except north of Watford) it is usually hot anyway. No preheating or defrosting required.

Big Brother is watching.

 

[Bornfree]

I put a fan heater in my van with an extension lead to a socket in the kitchen. Whilst making my breakfast I switch it on and the van is warm and defrosted when I go to work. Not sure if it's telematics but it works.

 

[rtcosic]

My X260 Jaguar has this. The e-Sim and 'subscription' to the service lasted for 3 years, but wasn't worth renewing.
I used it to plan routes on the PC with a nice big screen and proper qwerty keyboard, then sent it to the car. Google Maps does that better now.
Seeing the start and finish locations, routes, distance, time, speed and fuel consumption of each trip was vaguely interesting but not very useful, unless you need to log business miles and complete timesheets. Fun for asking SWMBO how she managed to spend 2 hours at the shopping centre and average 15mpg.

Remote start was, of course, greyed out in the UK as unattended idling is illegal.
Heating the cabin remotely can be done legally with an EV, of course.

Like @Bornfree No2 son has 'plumbed in' a £9.99 fan heater to his MX-5, which is plugged into a remote-controlled plug with a pre-programmed on-off time.

In summary, an amusing toy whose novelty soon wears off.
Or, a solution in desperate need of a problem.

 

[angellonewolf]

I put a fan heater in my van with an extension lead to a socket in the kitchen. Whilst making my breakfast I switch it on and the van is warm and defrosted when I go to work. Not sure if it's telematics but it works.

same here frosty mornings i get up look out side walk out put heater on seat facing the widow screen buy the time i had coffee its dry all ice gone and warm when i drive to work

 

[m_c]

My old (now) Jag has (had) this. I could be having my breakfast in the house and tell the car sitting outside to start itself and warm up ready for when I wanted to drive to work. Handy in the winter but really only a solution to a first world problem!

My Transit Custom has it.
Use it on frosty mornings to defrost before I get out the house, and occasionally use it on hot days so the van is cooled before I get in it.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

On the mg4 it also allowed the heating to be turned on, lock/unlock and also track the car too. As above, great until it goes wrong.

 

[northwest]

It does get used - messages us if you’ve left it unlocked (we do that a lot for some reason)

This ^^^^^^ Personally, I find this feature invaluable, I can check on whether I have left the car unlocked or not from the comfort of the couch and the answer is usually that I have, so I just lock it without having to go back out in the freezing wind (and rain tonight).

 

[Ubique]

I have it on my car, mainly for the Thatcham-certified tracker but also remote climate, locking/unlocking and a handy 'beep & flash' if you forget just where exactly you parked in the multi-storey... also the 'did you forget to lock your car?' alert will break through a do-not-disturb phone setting.
It also optionally records journey stats - if you care about such things (apparently useful for expenses claims), there's 'SoS' & 'roadside service' buttons, should you need help.
Just be aware that the telematics have backup batteries (typical life is >6 years), changing them can be non-trivial and usually requires a reset of some sort, thankfully most high-end aftermarket diagnostics can do that, not a basic code reader though.
It's not particularly cheap but it works out at £16 more p.a. than the insurance discount for the tracker.

 

[Cato]

How does it do this, I have never put a SIM card in it or connected it to any network, the only thing I have done is pair my phone with it. How does it do this? If it's important it is a Mazda.

WiFi, 5G, and BlueTooth, it hooks up to whatever's nearby in that order of preference.

There was a deal a few years back with all of the network infrastructure owners to allow the manufacturers of electronic devices from cars, through computers to trackers and so on to have access for a flat license fee. It helps with stuff like rescue, thieves trying to hide stuff with a tracker and so on. The Thatcham approved trackers I fit have the capability to communicate/piggy back any nearby mobile along with satellite connection, WiFi, and BlueTooth yet they're the size of a large cigarette lighter and it's all contained within that size of package.

It also makes the furore about being tracked with a digital ID somewhat amusing. People already are and have been for some years.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Maybe so, but in the third world (except north of Watford) it is usually hot anyway. No preheating or defrosting required.

Big Brother is watching.

In Canada 25 years ago you could get an aftermarket remote with a fob that went on your key chain for $100. No computers or Internet access, just Bluetooth. Faultless. Watch the car defrost having breakfast. I did however hear of a lazy guy in florida who used a similar thing to get his car nice and cool. It did, but the engine got hotter and hotter until it seized!

 

[Erie Fred]

Yes ^^^ Remote car starters have been around for some time now, just a separate
fob device, wireless.
First were aftermarket, now most are integrated from the OEM.

No phone needed.

 

[waddycall]

My next car will be from the 90s.

 

[MetalMonkey]

Remote start has been around ages but isn’t legal here, unless its used off-road on your own driveway.