Privacy

Hi just old and cynical, I'm old and cynical dad. So yeah, I immediately started wondering what could be the angle here for the firms pushing it. It is not from the goodness of their nonexistent hearts, so what is there to benefit...

I don't think it would be to have harder to detect anything, it would probably be easier to detect if anything.

I'd wager it is just the fact that these firms are crap at making software. They realize they are lagging behind, and don't want to depend on 3rd party solutions that can fuck them over later on or reduce the value of their cars if the support is ever dropped or updates are stopped (by them or the 3rd party).

So by pushing for free software they are trying to remove the cost of licenses of 3rd party software, the cost of maintenance, and the cost of development. Any issues or problems, they can also shift the blame. They'd also be removing software as a factor to compare cars, which I'm sure is something making them look bad right now.

But at the end it feels like a net win for buyers, so it may just end up being the most sensible solution and at the same time profitable for these firms. And even if the general public is not really demanding for this, I'm sure the car firms using this will sell it as the more private option, and everyone likes it when they tell you google, apple or others won't be tracking you.