infos & some criticism of the app :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life360
(also some cars have integrated tracking)
this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2024
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(also some cars have integrated tracking)
Pretty much every single car made in the last 5 years has it. And it's been in cars starting in the 90s so just because your car is a 2015 doesn't mean it's safe.
Every car. Not pretty much every one, but every one. Telemetry boxes have been around for a while and you can even get Telemetry Insurance if you have one. I think by 2015 all manufacturers had them.
My car doesnt, its from 91 tho so... yeah.
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If you care about not being tracked, look up how to remove the cellular modem in your car. I found instructions on how to do this with my vehicle and it's pretty easy.
Till they get rid of car ownership; then you are on the hook for damaging their car.
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If only we had lawmakers that kept greedy corporations in check, instead of bickering over bullshit.
Lawmakers seem to have developed a strangely keen interest in where exactly we put our dicks and the very personal repercussions of any new genetic material created from any of this dick placement. They don't seem to have any time at all for corporate abuse of the populous at large. I guess the problem perhaps is that while corporations are people, they don't have dicks?
Greedy corporations pay the lawmakers to bicker over bullshit instead of regulating them.
LOL I always knew that creepy Life360 shit would come back to bite people in the ass eventually.
Nah it was biting people long before that, those tracker apps are practically purpose built to enable abusive relationships and family dynamics.
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My driving is being non-secretly scored, I have an app just for that. Currently it just complains that I have power saving mode on all the time, so I don't know if it's not working or if it is and I just can't see the results anymore. (I'm not turning off power saving mode.)
Why do you have an app for that?
Discount on my insurance.
I'm inclined to think this should be illegal because it could lead to a situation where insurance is unavailable to or unaffordable for anyone who doesn't opt in to fairly invasive tracking.
If you can't afford insurance, you really can't afford to get in an accident.
It's also illegal in most jurisdictions. My point isn't that anyone should drive without insurance, but that allowing insurance companies to offer discounts for accepting spying will lead to the spying being effectively mandatory for most people.
It is kinda like that. We have a tracker that we added because they increased the insurance rate and said if you install this device we'll keep the rate low based on driving patterns.
Basically records how often you drive, hard break/sharp turns, after midnight drives, etc. We don't drive the car often so the prob of accident is low but we recently learned that they can consider not driving enough also bad saying it can make you drive recklessly or sth.
I installed the app, did initial setup, then forced it to never update, shut off internet access, and disabled notifications. Still seeing the discount nearly 3 years later.
I have USAA, and if you use that app you’re eligible for discounts on your insurance.
I'm guessing insurance discounts.
Does it actually tell you the results? I'm curious how they score your driving, and how effective it is. The scariest things I see on the road are things like:
- distracted driving
- tailgating
- lack of awareness
I don't see how they'd measure how safe a driver you are.
Perhaps it's just that people are more careful when they know they're being monitored, and safe drivers are more likely to opt in?
Tailgating is actually pretty easy to measure - there are specific patterns of braking and acceleration.
Innatention may be measurable too. For example, if an inattentive driver frequently drifts from the center of the lane and makes small quick corrections periodically, that would be apparent from accelerometer data.
How would they even know you are the driver and not a passenger?
My car can detect if there's someone in the passenger seat, and sends an alert if they didn't fasten their seat belt.
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I don't know, but mine guesses correctly when I'm a passenger about 90% of the time. Unlike the other commenter, mine doesn't have a bluetooth connection to my car or a device in my car.
Once in a while I have to tell it I'm not driving.
There's an app installed on your phone and a separate bluetooth device you keep in your car.
By default, it assumes you're the driver of your car, but you can use the app to claim someone else was driving your car during a particular trip.
If you're in someone else's car, the app assumes you're not driving because the bluetooth device in your car isn't nearby.
For each trip it tells you things like how often you touch your phone, what % of the trip you spent using your phone, and how many times you braked hard (which is a proxy for things like tailgating or general inattentiveness, since it can't see the road). Mostly it seems to be a "don't use your phone" score. There's an overall score, and you can see how big your discount is, but the score itself is largely meaningless without the ability to compare to other drivers.
Does it have any mechanisms to detect someone who might just install the app on an old phone that just lives in the glove box? Seems like a real easy way to get around the "don't use your phone" aspect.
I think you need to use the same phone number you signed up with, but other than that I don't know. If you signed up with a burner phone, maybe you could do that.
Nope, because I drive an 03 Jetta lol
Edit: I’m also quite selective about the stuff I install on my phone, and nothing has “always on” location data.
They're also buying tracking data from phone apps, so you'd need to make sure you're not running any of those either.
Now they can track your account through car tax records since you said that.
Next time say you drive a 1992 Pontiac Fiero
Not in the same detailed minute-by-minute tracking of where you've been.
I drive a bicycle
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Jokes on them, I drive recklessly as hell and in twenty years am at fault for zero accidents, while my wife hates driving with me and drives incredibly cautiously and has been at fault in accidents. Can the algorithm see past 'this person accelerates quicker therefore should have a higher premium" because otherwise I feel like the old system was working. It was frustrating to pay more as a young male driver, but I've proven myself and my abilities behind the wheel and wish to continue to pay accordingly.
Im sure they can. Insurance companies love data. While someone like you might fly under their radar with crash statistics, it might be worthwhile to flag you as low risk for crash, but if in a crash high risk for multi-fatility crash. This would mean a bigger potential payout for them and they might want to risk adjust you. I'd advocate that just about anyone should try to protect their own data and avoid sharing this info with insurance companies.
I drive recklessly as hell
...
but I've proven myself and my abilities behind the wheel
Pick one
Pick one
No. I'll admit my verbage could probably use some work, but oh well. Many traffic laws exist to fund police departments. I obey the laws that are grounded in reality. I've driven professionally and if 10000 hours of practice makes mastery then I've easily at least tripled that, easy. If you're imagining someone driving like a complete douche that's probably not me, as I'm extremely considerate of other drivers, having no faith in their abilities or perceptions. But I hate being in a car and when I'm driving I want it to end as quickly as possible so I will speed through a yellow if there's visibility both ways and no cross traffic and I will speed on empty highways and I will treat traffic lights like four-way stops if there's no one else on the road. Etc
Sounds like you just picked one
Okay.
Sounds like something an irresponsible wreckless chode would do. I hope you're just kidding because I wouldn't want you to be an irresponsible wreckless chode.
Could you point out for me which behaviors are reckless, irresponsible, and chode like? I'm also dumb.
Technically they said wreckless, which is accurate.
The entire second to last sent where you listed being wreckless and then ignoring that stop lights aren't in fact stop signs. Running red lights is very chode-like, speeding to get through yellows is wreckless, and both are irresponsible.
Oh, okay. Cool.
I'll reiterate the above examples are on empty roads, I don't take chances with other drivers. That being said there's no world where I'm wasting several minutes and gas just because a timer clicked off. I am a human being and while I respect machines and the intentions with which they were designed, machines hold no authority over me. And if it's weight based and you ride a motorcycle you literally have no other choice as the bike won't set it off. You can run the light or wait possibly hours for another vehicle to set it off for you. So if that makes me a chode then I guess I'm a big ol' tuna can.
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It's pretty well established that women tend to get into more accidents than men, but they tend to be minor fender benders that don't cost all that much, while men tend to cause accidents very rarely, but when we do, multiple vehicles are destroyed and people die, and that's a great deal more expensive in the long run. So you haven't had an at fault accident in 20 years, doesn't mean you won't destroy a school bus tomorrow.
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Driving behavior analysis, or telematics, as the insurance industry calls it, could be better for consumers, leading to personalized rates that are more fair. Plus, if people have to pay more for their risky driving, they may drive more cautiously, leading to safer roads. But this will happen only if drivers are aware that their behavior is being monitored.
I'm so sick of this shit.
Just like the stop sign cameras, this only increases safety by penalizing and then monetizing minor mistakes that humans make. This is not about safety, it's about maximizing income through technological micromanaging of drivers who have not caused an accident and were not in danger of causing one.
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