Something that bothers me is why are companies so casual about attaching fragile networked software to long-lived durable goods like cars? The manufacturer has no economic or legal incentive to keep that patched over the life of the hardware.
This is the rotten shortsighted mindset of modern-day tech: all the benefit for the company, none of the responsibility.
Something that bothers me is why are companies so casual about attaching fragile networked software to long-lived durable goods like cars? The manufacturer has no economic or legal incentive to keep that patched over the life of the hardware.
Indeed. See also: almost all new TVs are now "smart" TVs, almost all new phones are now "smart" phones, a high proportion of "smart home" and IoT devices simply stop working if some remote service is discontinued (or your Internet connection is slow or down), and so on.
Without reaching much further, mobile operating systems, Windows 10 and a significant amount of locally run desktop software are also practically built around phoning home and relying on remote services by design now, and doing some shady things around tying security or compatibility updates in with other changes you might not want or need.
I came around to the view some time ago that some sort of fairly draconian regulation is the only way to stop this. It simply shouldn't be a prerequisite for using normal, everyday devices that you have to give up your privacy, nor a prerequisite for continuing to use something with a software element the same way as when you bought it that you have to accept arbitrary changes in the software or legal terms later.
My own little soapbox is that if you buy a product, it should always be possible for the consumer to return it to exactly the state it was at the time of purchase.
So no forced or unrevokable updates that ruin (or even change) things.
I have a TV that has on multiple times broken things with firmware updates, and there is no known way to downgrade. I'd name and shame the company but I'm sure that almost every manufacturer gets away with the same bullshit. Same with cellphone manufacturers.
Why can't they just shut it all down when they're done patching? Send out your final patch disabling networked functionality completely.
Nothing in the car should be reliant upon such services, hacking the remaining systems after this is disabled would involve physical access to the car, considering you can just as easily unscrew the pedal or cut the brake lines or what-have-you, that's probably an acceptable tradeoff.
My car has Android Auto and I know eventually it's going to stop working with new phones and that sucks. On the other hand, having Waze or Google Maps and access to my podcast player and all the other neat things it can do is pretty compelling. My wife's car has a built-in GPS and maps function that is always out of date and we have to pay for updates.
You're very astute to realize that this will break eventually. Apple updated iOS a couple years back and broke the Bluetooth integration with my 2011 Subaru. Apple told me it was Subaru's fault, and to have them update my car's firmware. When I mentioned this to a service guy at the dealership, he just laughed.
This is the rotten shortsighted mindset of modern-day tech: all the benefit for the company, none of the responsibility.