So pretty much the title. I recently got a 2023 corolla and loving it, but what I don’t understand is why it’s got wifi. I’ve driven a 2012 Yaris prior to this and that was pretty much a “dumb” car.
I don’t have a Toyota fwiw, but on my car you connect the wifi to your home router and update the infotainment firmware. It allows over the air updates without having to go to the dealership.
Toyota’s been rolling out connectivity in their cars and that includes a cellular modem. It transmits data like location, speed, other metrics to Toyota (opinion: ew, seems like it can be disabled at the cost of the microphone, or by calling them) and since they’re putting that in, it might as well become a selling point on the spec sheet.
New cars are vacuuming up data these days, I am concerned by that personally. Yes I know I have a phone, etc. etc.
There’s a few answers but none of them are the real answer.
It costs next to nothing to include in the car but adds a substantial amount to the selling price OR it doesn’t add much to the price but adds substantial perceived value from the buyer’s perspective
I don’t know about the corrola specifically but many cars can act as a hot spot so if you have kids they can connect their tablets or whatnot.
I wonder how unsecure those are. I don’t know much about cybersec but my senses are tingling.
It’s just a hotspot. It’s probably no more or less secure than any other hotspot.