Are there any regulation barriers to selling "dumb" devices in the modern market? I've made the same point about pickup trucks--the 2002 Toyota Tacoma is a far preferable vehicle than the 2022 Toyota Tacoma for many truck owners, but when I've brought that up, people have pointed out that a number of laws make it impossible to sell a clone of the old version (must have backup cameras, must have X, must have Y, etc.)
All those things mandated for cars are related to safety. Back-up cameras are required to prevent drivers from running over small children. ABS and stability control to prevent crashes. Etc. And none of them, in a simple implementation, reduce the usability of the car/truck.
No such mandates exist for home appliances. The connectivity/apps are purely a money-grab - either people like the general idea of connected devices, or the manufacturer thinks they can monetize that connectivity post-sale (or likely some combination of the two).
> All those things mandated for cars are related to safety.
I believe that the current EU mandate for cars is that they must have cellular connectivity, which is of course for calling emergency services in a crash.
I think "ostensibly for safety" is a better description of some of it.
Don't forget the "Remote-force-stop" functionality, that all new cars must have in some territories. Using that same network-connection to access the rear bumper-cam to automatically search for "interesting" license-plates is just an added bonus for LEO.
Don't you then loose the validity of the "road worthiness certificate"?
That would thus equate to operating a multi-ton unlicensed machine in public. I would expect it to be called "reckless endangerment" at least, if they catch you with disabled eCall.
I assume being a cellular transceiver it maintains communications with the tower at all times, even when not sending payload data.
This would allow the device to be tracked from cell to cell by IMEI, if this is indeed how it works.
Note that a mobile device does not need to be registered with the tower to make emergency calls (it works in a cell with no sim!) so it may not actually permit this type of tracking, but also car manufacturers might put a subscriber module in to maintain IP connectivity for additional services even if the car owner doesn't subscribe. This configuration (such as was factory installed in my 2015 BMW 4 series) does allow for carrier/tower-based location tracking.
>All those things mandated for cars are related to safety.
There really is a benefit for a Mazda MX-5 Miata to have a backup camera? It would be far more of a distraction than just swiveling your head. Not to mention the e-waste cost of all the useless components in millions of similar cars.
One size fits all solutions should be the rarest of the rare, not the norm. Tire pressure sensors? Sure - useful and most people don't think to check (heck I don't check as often as I should!). But complex crap like cameras and screens in a car the size of a go-cart? Utterly ridiculous and beyond wasteful.
Do you drive a Miata? I did for years. Rearward visibility with the top up was pretty terrible. No rear quarter windows, the rear window was tiny. Yeah, the driver should turn their head and look, just as with any car, but they don't and they back into things. As the old saying goes, "this is why we can't have nice things."
Outside of extremely low quality no name televisions. I don't think it's possible to buy a dumb TV anymore. TV manufacturers I found a revenue streams by including Roku or Android TV bundle in.
It is relatively easy to add a new stereo that has a screen which can display a backup camera to an old truck. It doesn't need to have been original factory equipment to be adequate. I did this for a 2003 vehicle. I have backup camera/Android Auto/CarPlay/etc. If you don't feel up to it, you can have it done for less than a grand at a really good car audio installer, and then you have the more reliable vehicle. Of course, this depends where you live and what is required.
For example in the EU, the eCall 'feature' is a must since April 2018. I guess that removing it from the car afterwards entails loss of street-legality.
