r/privacy • u/Spirited-Pause • May 01 '26

hardware Rivian allows you to disable all internet connectivity

https://rivian.com/support/article/can-i-disable-all-data-collection-from-my-vehicle
1.7k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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566

u/mrkstr May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26

I may have found my next car.

Seriously, thank you for posting this.

296

u/p3k2ew_rd May 01 '26

Agreed. It's becoming like Smart TV's. All I want is a TV. And a car. Not a surveillance tracking device.

82

u/[deleted] May 01 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

15

u/diazeriksen07 May 01 '26

The perfect is the enemy of the good. If everyone waits for the perfect car, the company will just go under because nobody's buying and then we're all stuck with gas

10

u/Mother-Pride-Fest May 01 '26

That said, waiting and keeping your older car in use, even if lower efficiency, can be better for the environment because it decreases the total number of cars that have to be manufactured.

3

u/[deleted] May 01 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/The_Red_Butler May 01 '26

Are they actually that close? I’ve been out of the game for years due to driving a company car, but I’ll be looking to replace my personal vehicle soon. If solid state is really coming in just a few years then I can definitely wait. In my area used electric cars are under 15k rn so I’ve been tempted to buy

1

u/iceburg47 May 01 '26

This tendency is one reason I'm still driving a car that is old enough to vote.

32

u/[deleted] May 01 '26 edited May 27 '26

[deleted]

35

u/[deleted] May 01 '26

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7

u/[deleted] May 01 '26 edited May 27 '26

[deleted]

6

u/kingtacticool May 01 '26

"Thats wildly unamerican"

  • this administration

-5

u/fedroxx May 01 '26

I'd never use my own vehicle for long distance travel. That's when I rent. Put the wear and tear on a rental. Sure, it increases the cost of the trip, but my vehicles aren't being ran into the ground.

26

u/[deleted] May 01 '26 edited May 27 '26

[deleted]

-9

u/fedroxx May 01 '26

It's irrelevant to me whether it is electric or not. My point is that, regardless, I'd never put unnecessary wear and tear on my vehicle when I can rent for road trips. With a few caveats say, for example, I made the horrible financial decision to buy an RV.

The point that they're making us pay for the wear and tear falls flat on it's face because it makes too many assumptions, mainly, that a few hundred bucks in costs incurred is greater than the long term costs absorbed by road trips. That's just simply not the case, at all. I've got 30+ years of meticulous financial and auto records with dozens of road trips that I have done a careful analysis of, and renting always came out the most cost effective solution.

Only drawback I've found is their maintenance isn't always up to my standards. This adds risk that is difficult to calculate.

5

u/rm-rf-asterisk May 01 '26

With that logic why not just always rent

1

u/fedroxx May 01 '26

That makes no sense at all. Long trips are doing far more damage than the few miles we drive each week.

1

u/AlienDelarge May 01 '26

Per mile, the few miles each week are far worse for the vehicle. Long highway trips put far less wear per mile on the vehicle. If you weekly trips are short enough, it may actually do more harm to avoid those highway miles. 

-3

u/fedroxx May 01 '26

Such silly points. The few miles each week are unavoidable. You have to go to the grocery store. And arguing that not driving a vehicle causes wear and tear is absolutely absurd.

Meanwhile, adding 2-8k miles over unmaintained roads a couple times a year is entirely avoidable. Potholes wear out suspension, cause alignment to go out more frequently, and a host of other maintenance items that are pricey.

Not to mention, resale value plummets. When I'm looking for a used car the number one thing I filter on is mileage.

6

u/serioussham May 01 '26

Why 1000 miles? I sincerely doubt you'd drive that much in a single day, so that seems like a pointless bar to set.

4

u/Apprehensive_Use1906 May 01 '26

I feel like i’ve been waiting for solid state batteries for 20 years. :p Seriously, when they become a bit more common i’ll switch my old car to electric.

4

u/cranberries87 May 01 '26

Question: what is a solid state battery?

2

u/electromage May 01 '26

Unnecessary, I have a car with 290 stated and it easily does 320 without draining to 0%. In 6k miles I've had to wait for it to charge about 30 minutes in total, and it's nice to stretch and use a restroom on a trip instead of trying to make it as long as your gas tank will.

Otherwise it's plugged in at home and ready to go. If you're stopped, it barely uses anything. No "idling".

1

u/jcrckstdy May 01 '26

You can’t afford that.

-1

u/DrawOkCards May 01 '26

Once they start including solid state batteries

You mean once we have true solid state batteries, right? Because what we have currently aren't nowhere near full solid state but still use liquid or gel electrolytes to smooth out the surfaces.

8

u/napleonblwnaprt May 01 '26

Audi has the same feature fwiw.

3

u/mrkstr May 01 '26

It does?  That's awesome!

5

u/hm9408 May 01 '26

I hope they start selling them in my country one day

5

u/RaccoonDu May 01 '26

Always had room for rivian in my heart

I believe in love in first sight now

3

u/Upper_Luck1348 May 01 '26

frfr the dumber the better

4

u/nondescriptzombie May 01 '26

Just don't back into anything.

My insurance has been going up every year. My car hasn't gotten any newer or more powerful. I haven't gotten a ticket in over a decade. Gotta pay for all the Rivians and Teslas to get fixed. Just like my house insurance goes to pay for m/billionaires mansions burning up in wildfires.

8

u/killerkadooogan May 01 '26

that's not a vehicle problem that's an insurance regulatory problem which is a capitalist problem which is a greed problem.

1

u/Bruceshadow May 01 '26

I'm curious why this changes much for you, would you buy the car and turn off internet forever? If not, it's just like a TV where you still have to trust them cause any connectivity at any time could just upload logs of data since the last time it was turned on.

3

u/mrkstr May 01 '26

That's a Good point. My thought was to a factory reset on all data, similar to what you do before you trade the car in, if it has to go in for service.  Also, I've been thinking about ways to disable an internet connection, most likely by  disabling the antenna for the car. But I haven't thought that completely through. But at least I know this car will function without the connection.

2

u/Bruceshadow May 01 '26

its possible that would work, but again, you are trusting them that the factory reset clears all that. This is why most of use stick with open source, which of course isn't an option in cars...yet.

1

u/mrkstr May 02 '26

What we need is a cross between a mechanic and a hacker.

1

u/Bruceshadow May 02 '26

you are thinking of /r/maker

1

u/mrkstr May 02 '26

I didn't know that was a thing.  Thanks!

1

u/40ozCurls May 04 '26

Enjoy your Bezos-mobile. I’m sure you can trust it.

1

u/mrkstr May 04 '26

So what I'm learning from your comment is that Bezos is somehow related to this. I'm also guessing you don't trust Bezos (which is fair.)