Holy crap! I never even considered this, but it’s entirely possible for a lien holder to be given access to a self-driving car’s software for repossession.
Maybe we shouldn’t be giving them any ideas.
It functionally makes no difference.
Generally once there is a proper lien put on a car, a tracking device will be installed regardless. But even if there isn’t?
That onstar button that you accidentally push once a year? That is a tracking device. Hell, many of the OTA systems used to update the infotainment system that you try to ignore in favor of android/apple auto ALSO provide tracking information.
So then it is just the matter of locking your car remotely and sending someone out or locking your car remotely and then having the car drive back to the dealer. Functionally it is a distinction without difference.
A lot of people attempt to get around repossessions by keeping it in their garage where you can’t get to it. Imagine now a car that has homelink automatically opening the garage door and backing itself out on to the driveway or street to be picked up.
Or… just “imagine” the company calling the cops to have them order you to open your garage door. Or calling whatever company you advertise on said door. And so forth.
Hell, if we are at the point where you hooking your car into your smart home is sufficient, they already have no legal right to do that and can just use a crowbar to pop your garage and rely on their lawyers to prevent you from meaningfully suing.
This is all a “solved” problem. Keeping your garage door closed to avoid a repossession has never and will never be effective. All it means is that the company takes a bit longer to completely ruin your life before they take it back anyway.
Cops can’t do that in general. Defaulting on a loan is a civil matter, i.e failing to meet conditions of a contract, not you breaking a law.
Cops can enforce a judges verdict however, so if you have been sued and lost, then they may be able to compel further action. Generally that’s way more work then a repo company wants to do for each car.
There’s a replevin for when debtors won’t comply. It’s like a warrant. I don’t like it any more than the next guy but if we buy cars on finance, the dealer or bank owns the car until we’ve paid our loan off. Hiding it from them is technically stolen property. A lien holder’s legal right to a repo order is a literally a signed tenet of the loan agreement.
Not a problem that needs to be solved with technology, there’s already the long arm of the law. Capitalism! 👍
No, the bank does not own the car. They have a lien on it, i.e it is collateral for you defaulting on the loan they gave you to purchase it. Thats not ownership as much as its a stake on the material good as collatoral for payment. Contractors/etc can put similar liens on houses that mean you cant sell the house without paying them. That too is a civil matter.
Enforcing a lien is a civil matter. The process for enforcement varies state to state, but it is a contract dispute, not theft or anything like it.
Breach of contract has penalties that can include various things, including repossession, but cops wont enforce that without a writ from the courts, and often not without a nominal fee paid. This is normally when the losing party in a lawsuit refuses to comply with a judges ruling for payment to the wronged party. A simple car loan default doesnt rise to that level.
There is a reason its repo guys rolling around in tow trucks picking up defaulted cars and not cops. Its not a criminal matter.
I read that they can’t do anything with OnStar anymore, since the 3G network it uses is all but gone.
OnStar was upgraded to LTE a while ago.
That doesn’t upgrade the radios in older cars, but I guess new cars have new radios. Can you buy a car without OnStar? I’ve never used that service except for one time, for a year, because my car came with a free trial. Within that entire year I used it twice.
Can you buy a car without OnStar?
I think at this point basically all GM vehicles in the last 20 years have come with OnStar installed, and everything in the last 10 years since the switchover to LTE has had it.
I think it was Ford that patented the tech to do it. Hence it being the subject of the comic. They already have the idea. Good thing their self driving is only approved on certain highways.
It would already be bad if they can revoke your access remotely, like making your key not work.
Companies biggest goal nowadays is to have people not actually own anything they are selling, so they can leech subscription money for self-induced necessities
“keep yourself cool in the summer! AC subscription pack for just $200/month”
new country song about how you can take my wife, take my house, take my children, but don’t you dare take my emotional support truck
My truck dun gone left me
The mowers laughing at me
And now I walk
Because my truck could talk
And left me for a mazaritti.
Well on the upside country music is about to get a whole new topic to sing about.
🎵 Had to put down my dog and bury my wife,
But I thought I’d have my pick-up for life…🎵
Maybe don’t buy a f9000 when you live in suburbia. Maybe don’t unless you need it for your job…
Even if you dont live in suburbia very few people need these trucks (a comment which enrages a shocking number of people)
I know this because I own 20+ chickens, 6 ducks, 12 goats, 3 dogs, and the neighborhood cat decided he’s mine (and the land to go with it obviously), and I’ve managed to do everything needed for all those animals with a 2018 Nissan Leaf! Not only not a truck, but an EV with half the range of a modern one!
I’m planning to rent a pickup truck for a day in a weekend or two so I can haul away this old shed that fell apart and some other somewhat big stuff while I’ve got it there. In 3 years of being here with these animals that’s 1 time I’ve needed a vehicle that could haul, and it’s a $30 rental for the day I need it
Don’t worry, we didn’t give them the idea. Ford filed for a patent to do exactly this in 2021 and published it in 2023.
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/03/1160932390/ford-patent-repossession-self-driving-cars
This applies to any kind of car, not just trucks.
