"... Rivian will integrate Alexa into its electric pickup and SUV"

[electruck]

I absolutely do not want alexa in my vehicle.

Can you share why? My assumption is privacy concerns. Do you have similar concerns about Rivian's own ability to track the vehicle's location, speed, driving habits, video feeds, lidar sensor data, etc? These are highly connected vehicles even without Alexa (reported to have 5 LTE modems).

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[skyote]

reported to have 5 LTE modems

Wow, I didn't realize that. Seems like overkill, but interesting.

 

[Hexijen]

It's absolutely privacy concerns. Regarding driving habits and location, if that can be turned off, ill be turning that off. I am not as concerned about Rivian vs Amazon, and I am not as concerned about vehicle data as I am with having a microphone recording everything I say.

 

[Jehorton]

It's absolutely privacy concerns. Regarding driving habits and location, if that can be turned off, ill be turning that off. I am not as concerned about Rivian vs Amazon, and I am not as concerned about vehicle data as I am with having a microphone recording everything I say.

What are you hiding ?

 

[electruck]

It's absolutely privacy concerns. Regarding driving habits and location, if that can be turned off, ill be turning that off. I am not as concerned about Rivian vs Amazon, and I am not as concerned about vehicle data as I am with having a microphone recording everything I say.

Not being judgemental, just wanted to clarify your concerns. Rivian does read what gets posted here so it's good feedback for them to know what people are and aren't concerned about.

 

[jimcgov3]

I hope it will answer to "Rivian"...I experience a good number of false activations to both "Alexa" & "Echo" with my wife's favorite home gadget.

I'm not a huge fan due to potential privacy & cybersecurity reasons, but it is good for playing music, reminders, and adding things to our grocery list...

@skyote, have you tried the keyword, "Computer"? Rivian as the keyword would be sweet!!

 

[skyote]

@skyote, have you tried the keyword, "Computer"? Rivian as the keyword would be sweet!!

I call it wire tap. It doesn't respond to that...it just listens.

 

[Kickaha]

I agree - privacy concerns. Right now I am not worried. However, there are several precidents and cases working their way up the courts that have dramatic impacts to what data collected "passively" can be used for. Currently, its pretty restricted. But, I have no faith that sometime in the future, some court will authorize a general sweep of all data within a certain search criteria to help with solving a crime. A laudable goal. However, who has never driven 1 mph over the speed limit or run a stop sign? Law enforcement could potentially use this data to retroactively issue tickets, warrants, or other legal documents based on that data. Far fetched? Not as much as you might think.

A famous Communist (cant remember the name right now) once said "Show me the man and I will show you the crime".

The reason I am worried is that we dont know what someone in the future will use this data for. I am aware my tin-foil-hat is showing but we cannot predict the future uses of this data. Its probably benign. Probably.

 

[sevengroove]

If you own a vehicle that is mid 2000's or newer, there is a chance you might have opted in to share annonymized GPS data with your manufacturer, that then gets sold to the highest bidder - folks like this. Manufacturers like Rivian and Tesla of course collect and use way more information than that, given the complexity of their functions like autonomous driving. I don't think Rivian is going to sell information to anyone, but you can bet Amazon is very interested in analyzing what kind of voice requests are being made in the vehicle, or even information in the Rivian app like where you are going (oh, road trip to Nevada? can I "suggest" sunglasses?). You can also bet on there being a 'sign in with your Amazon account' option in the Rivian app, which I promptly plan on ignoring.

One thing we cannot count is any sort of federal regulation around this - at least in the near term. It is up to us as consumers to make sure these companies are held to our own high standards when it comes to data sharing even if it is with an investor/partner like Amazon.

Edit: Google's partnership with Volvo also comes to mind, although I'm not too familiar on the details of data sharing between the two.

 

[skyote]

You can also bet on there being a 'sign in with your Amazon account' option in the Rivian app, which I promptly plan on ignoring.

Amen.

One thing we cannot count is any sort of federal regulation around this - at least in the near term. It is up to us as consumers to make sure these companies are held to our own high standards when it comes to data sharing even if it is with an investor/partner like Amazon.

Again, preach it brother!

 

[photontorque]

I'm really happy to read this discussion.

The one thing that still could keep me from buying a Rivian is their collection and use of my data.

I sent an email to them asking if turning off data collection was an option, and the answer I got was basically "we have protection for user data", which I take to mean that owners will not have the option to limit the data Rivian collects, even if there is some control over whether or not to use Alexa.

This has me really concerned. Every company says "we have really strong safeguards to protect your data", then has fine print to say they are not liable for any data breach. Something about talking out of both sides of your mouth comes to mind. We've seen repeatedly that banks and other companies -- who should be highly motivated to keep customer data safe -- can be breached and personal information extracted by evil doers.

This is a concern in addition to the important one articulated by @Kickaha.

I.e. in addition to the potential of our data used against us in ways we don't anticipate now, Rivian will collect all sorts of personally identifiable data that bad actors could use for identity theft. Colleagues have suffered through identity theft and I wish that on no one.

So it would be great for a forum of Rivian enthusiasts to give the company a message: we love your vehicles (even though no one has driven them and we have no idea how much they cost!!), but "we protect your data" is insufficient. Too many examples over the past years have shown that no firewall is impervious. Give us the option to turn off data collection completely, or in the spirit of customer and company collaborating, provide granular control of information that can be collected. I.e. we can choose to share everything, nothing, or various steps in between.

 

[52371]

I absolutely do not want alexa in my vehicle. They said it can be disabled, and I really hope that ends up being true. I have a preorder but it would give me pause if it couldnt be disabled. As long as I can keep it from never accessing the internet, I'm fine with it.

Would be nice to have an "offline-only" setting for the Alexa features

Alexa is a deal breaker for me. I will cancel my pre-order unless there is a way to verify that the Alexa package has been removed. Not just disabled -- erased from the vehicle. Don't Trust. Verify.

 

[jimcgov3]

Alexa is a deal breaker for me. I will cancel my pre-order unless there is a way to verify that the Alexa package has been removed. Not just disabled -- erased from the vehicle. Don't Trust. Verify.

To each their own...hopefully you don't own a mobile phone, browse the internet without a VPN, or own a Tesla or any newer vehicle that logs data.

 

[Jehorton]

Alexa is a deal breaker for me. I will cancel my pre-order unless there is a way to verify that the Alexa package has been removed. Not just disabled -- erased from the vehicle. Don't Trust. Verify.

Hope you don’t have social media.

 

[electruck]

Alexa is a deal breaker for me. I will cancel my pre-order unless there is a way to verify that the Alexa package has been removed. Not just disabled -- erased from the vehicle. Don't Trust. Verify.

That's an extremely unlikely possibility unless they offer Alexa as an extra cost option in the configurator (I'm expecting it to be a standard feature). Even then it may simply be hidden and not truly erased from the vehicle. So far they have only acknowledged providing a way to disable, not remove.

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