this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2026
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Modern vehicles have evolved from mechanical machines into complex networks of processors, sensors, and code.

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[–] jaschen306@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 hours ago

Not mine. My car was built in 1999. Going to drive it until they stopped offering fuel at gas stations and then just transplant a electric drivetrain.

My car has a cassette tape and no Bluetooth.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

* data gathering center

[–] zaphod@sopuli.xyz 6 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Sure, if you consider every tiny microcontroller to be a computer, it's probably more than 100.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Right? This article is kinda a ridiculous take. A musical greeting card has a computer in it.

Cars are going to have tons of computers in them, from engine to battery management systems to driver displays to the audio system.

The computers that should be of concern are the “black box” and telemetry, one can brick your car with an OTA update and the other is uploaded to data aggregators, bought by your insurance company, and used to raise your rates if they see driving their metrics say make you a risk.

[–] mlg@lemmy.world 5 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

The high tech in vehicles that I wanted:

The "high tech" we got:

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Given the fact that my wipers slow down whenever I indicate, I don't think I'm being surveilled by my car. It's one big electrical short circuit on wheels that somehow still operates.

It's like a rather dysfunctional tank. Absolutely nothing that happens to it phases it or damages it in any way but it's baseline functionality is pre-compromised. When I got rear-ended by an inattentive driver the front of his car was all smashed in, my bumper was a little loose and I gave it a tap and it snapped back into place.

There is definitely something to be said for mid-2010s manufacturing. They've gotten really good at building cars but haven't quite got as far as putting chips in them yet. The dirt cheap on the second hand market and they just keep going forever.

[–] ADTJ@feddit.uk 1 points 1 hour ago

Tbf it's only been ten years since the mid 2010s so a bit early to know if they'll keep going longer term

[–] minorkeys@sh.itjust.works 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

There Are 100 Computers Hiding in Your Car Right Now (You’re Riding a ~~Data Center~~ mobile surveillance and anti-privacy device on Wheels)

[–] TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 48 points 1 day ago (1 children)

there are 100 computers hiding in your car right now

Wow! I have a car?

[–] django@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 1 day ago

I am as surprised as you are.

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

I didn't read the article but these days a turn signa,for instance, doesn't just connect to a flasher and a bulb. It connects to the network in the car and requests that the computer initiate the turn signal. This means the turn signal switch itself has to have a chip in it to communicate with the network that I believe they are calling a sort of computer. Virtually every component in the car operates like this. It really isn't the same thing as 100 computers..

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

We have a 1999 model car. I know it inside and out and there are nowhere near 100 computers in it.

[–] 404found@lemmy.zip 2 points 13 hours ago

I figured there was a lot of data tracking because it's not uncommon for my infotainment center to crash my Apple CarPlay connection when a message pops up saying my truck is sending data to Ford. Like damn, chill out Ford. Let me live a little.

[–] DudeImMacGyver@kbin.earth 11 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

My daily driver is a bicycle, checkmate.

[–] noahm@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go pair my bike with my phone so I can upgrade the derailleur’s firmware…

[–] DudeImMacGyver@kbin.earth 4 points 16 hours ago

shrugs in mechanical

[–] scytale@piefed.zip 23 points 1 day ago

You’re riding a data center on wheels

Oh yeah? Where’s my tax break then? And my subsidized water usage?

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 7 points 19 hours ago

Not this ship, sister.

[–] Triumph@fedia.io 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I mean, strictly speaking yes, but that's like saying your quartz watch is a computer.

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 12 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Cars have been like this for three decades. The problem is that some of those computers do data collection & upload.

[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 hours ago

2012 here. Nothing being collected or transmitted.

[–] lyralycan@sh.itjust.works 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

It's fucking wild how quickly the media work to water down the impact of things that make Western governments a lot of quick money. Like overusing 'genocide' to stop people talking about the annihilation of Palestine, they're using articles worded like this to distract from the actual data centres.

[–] unitedwithme@lemmy.today 1 points 11 hours ago

Desensitization

[–] eleitl@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

All I need is a baseline open hardware EV. Fat chance, of course. So I guess I have to buy something used, today older than 8 years and counting.

[–] Shadow@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Not quite open hardware, but it's minimal compute - https://www.slate.auto/

[–] imgcat@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 hours ago

SUV and US only, hard pass.

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

I have my prrorder but without a price still I am still unsure if I will get one.

[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

I tried so hard to hold on for the chance to purchase one but my old car began to reek of moist unwashed towels thanks to all the rain. Ended up getting a sweet deal on a '22 Bolt with 13k miles for $15k. There's a way to reversibly terminate the data line with $15 worth of equipment and 10 minutes.

[–] eleitl@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

Interesting, thanks.

[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 0 points 10 hours ago

Then why the fuck are data centers getting fucking land?!

Pretty sure that my 2004 rav4 that just lost a muffler on the highway does not house a data center, it still has a tape deck....

[–] athatet@lemmy.zip 5 points 23 hours ago

Headlines are clearly not written for lemmy users lmao.

[–] vaionko@sopuli.xyz 4 points 23 hours ago

No it doesn't. The only computer in there is the aftermarket head unit, and even that is over a decade old.

[–] Xaphanos@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

This is promising career news for data center techs like me.

[–] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nope. We bought a pretty dumb car. Sadly only the "entry-models" have no shit in them. At least no cloud-shit. Android-auto to not be bound to abysmal onboard-systems that require subscriptions. And that's it.

I love tech from the depth of my heart. But in a car I want haptic buttons and dials and no 2m long touchscreens where I can only turn on the AC when I have reception 😁

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

Your car probably has an electronics module (ECM) and a power train module (PCM) at the very least. But there's very few cars built in the last 3 decades that don't have at least two computers in them of some kind.

Obviously that's not a "data center on wheels" but I hope this headline is hyperbole.

[–] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 2 points 21 hours ago

Yeah of course our car does not run on love and solar energy :) I totally don't worry about some tech, i worry about connected cars. Which only unavoidably leads to subscriptions for everything and tons of privacy problems.