Or, here me out, maybe people could buy whatever car they like and modify it as they see fit if it suits their desiderata. No one's breaking into anyone's garage to forcibly install this mod in their cars...
Absolutely, I whole-hearted agree that everyone can do whatever the heck they want to their cars. That's not what I am trying to say. I am actually expressing a concern because this was in another thread. Folks should, at least, know what they're getting into by doing the needed due-diligence.
Ok, so, here's a somewhat of a technical reason why this is a bad idea.
You can call this an occupational hazard because I've worked in data and data security for almost 20 years. Also, I work with software engineers all day long and I can tell you, most of the time spent in an engineer's day is to fix bugs!! Let me say that again, to fix bugs. This should be apparent even with Tesla and their frequent OTAs.
Most folks think, this display that taps/interface into the original network of modules in the vehicle, is simply another harmless device. On the surface, yes. But this is a device with software that's been developed by a group of engineers who do not work in concert with Tesla. Which means, every time Tesla releases another OTA update, they have to scramble to run a sanity check on their existing code to make sure the OTA does not break any functions in the device. Should it break any of the functions, they now have to fix the bug(s) in haste and send each owner of the device a notice to download an update to be installed on the device. That code, has NO guarantees of any kind. And in the future, should Tesla decide to "lock" the APIs from the modules that the device is using, the screen simply becomes a $800 paper weight. Good luck getting support from the vendor when that happens.
Here's the really scary thought though. We are reasonably sure that Tesla has very secure firewalls and safeguards in the network/control modules so that they are "safe" from hacks. And we know that Apple and Google are doing all they can to secure their respective OSs on our phones. However, how secure do you think the software on the displays is? With its wifi and bluetooth wide open to connect to your phone, who is to say the MAC address on the device is not in some hacker's database to be messed with? Without any documentation related on the code itself, how would you know what data it's collecting and where it goes?
We are already sharing way more about our selves than we should on the open Internet. Are you sure you want a blackbox of whatever it is sitting on your dashboard just because it's showing your speed with needle gauges and can interface with Apple Carplay? As I've said before, you are free to do whatever you want. All I am saying is, ummmmm.... that's a HARD NO for me!
If you"must" have a dashboard, Model Y or 3 should not have been on your shopping list to begin with.
