this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2026
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cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/55598715

‘Privacy Nightmare on Wheels’: Every Car Brand Reviewed By Mozilla — Including Ford, Volkswagen and Toyota — Flunks Privacy Test

Originally found on privacy@lemmy.ml

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[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 39 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I would definitely pay a premium for an open source car.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

the premium you pay is for the space to build it and the tools. the (kit) car itself is a hell of a lot cheaper.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

That feels like something we could crowd-source. I don't need the space and tools to build two open source cars, but if we had ten people in the community that wanted them, it would make sense to rent the space and buy the tools.

[–] L0rdMathias@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 month ago (3 children)

"Hey so the auto assist locked the wheel and the brakes, swerved into another lane, shifted to reverse and blew the transmission, then..."

Hahahaha what a funny story consumer, anyways how's your sex life?

[–] jbellows@piefed.social 3 points 1 month ago

You're my favorite customer

[–] EugeneNine@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 weeks ago

“Hey so the auto assist locked the wheel and the brakes, swerved into another lane, shifted to reverse and blew the transmission, then…” And what was tesla's response?

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[–] Batmorous@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

Additional Comment:

It seems like the trend of open source is expanding not just more broadly in regions: Europe adopting it. But also in natural expansions: open source hardware.

Would be interesting if we can get a couple more opensource communities up and running and get more people interested in open source in various ways.

opensourcevehicles/opensourcetransit seems like the next logical step. (I would like to help with this)

Extra Side Notes:

Another area that can be good is opensourcebusiness (Everything related to starting, running, etc a business to make it more accessible for people. Would help more open source companies be made as well overtime)

opensourceanimation/anime (grow that part of the community to collaborate with for visual presentations of open source projects. Animated Tux would be amazing. An anime Krita mascot intro. We can get really creative), opensourcevalues (teaching values and ethics: hope, empathy, strength, we the people, gratitude, humble, etc) and opensourceuxui (grow that part of the community too to collaborate with. UX/UI community struggles with at times) to expand on main opensource software/hardware communities themselves

Personal Note:

2 more being opensourcehealth (To give a baseline of health resources people can make use of), open source housing, opensourcefood, open source water, and opensourcefinances (Baseline of finance resources). All that is more of a personal want but don't know if there is much want in the open source community for those 5.

[–] marcie@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (10 children)

this is a doomed idea, youd be better off doing open source ebikes and emotos

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I love this idea

Eventually, electric cars will become the norm. For an open source OS it just needs enough commercial interest. That's largely what lets down alot of open source projects by the looks of it.

I saw there is a new open source printer out there now. I'm excited about that and interested to see how it goes.

Most of the public don't see the value in open source or the barriers to entry are not worth it for them.

I'm not a dev so I'm certainly not casting shade on all the wonderful projects out there, more just an observation that you usually need to learn abit about computers to be able to access these projects. I've enjoyed the learning experiences

[–] picnic@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Woudnt it be a better idea just to offer standard EV kits to turn combustion engine cars into EVs?

It's unattainable for a low budget player to create and certify a car, and support it with parts for 20 years.

Just create a kit to turn your 10 year old VW into an EV, and let VW support the parts outside of EV domain

[–] lambipapp@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My dream is to convert an 1980s Saab 900 to electric!

[–] QuandaleDingle@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Don't show this to c/carscirclejerk, it'll turn them over.

😏

[–] Lee@retrolemmy.com 4 points 1 month ago

Years ago i was looking for EV kits and found several people out there selling them. Idk what the current availability is, how much tech they have, or how open they are. The ones I saw were pretty low tech (lacking regen braking and such). Think accelerator pedal controls motor speed and a battery pack is about all they were. Again this was a while ago when I was looking (like 2010ish).

You could offer kits for older vehicles, but considering the cost of the kid and installation cost/effort, does it make sense to start with an older car that may have other issues coming soon?

So what's the alternative? Start with a new car and throw out the ICE? Sure, but a bit wasteful and even more expensive than an older car or you could find an existing manufacturer (idk like Lotus) who will basically provide you the car without the ICE related components (aka a glider). ;)

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

parts for 20 years

i think the good thing about an open source car is that we could crowdsource, or even make some parts ourselves, no?

daily driving conversions and heavily modified vehicles can get annoying, but something that has it in it's design...

[–] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Buses. They're called buses.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

buses are technically very proprietary like cars, and rented to you by a sort of subscription. and service works on their terms (usually badly)

unless you live in one of the few places with free bus fares and good service.

[–] DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You must live in Europe. I’d rather walk the 3 miles from my house to the gym than wait for our bus in the US.

[–] DarkMetatron@feddit.org 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Only thinking about getting a TÜV certification or a permit to drive on public streets (Straßenzulassung) for an Open Source car in Germany produces nightmares about bureaucratic waves bigger then tsunamis.

[–] B0rax@feddit.org 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Mm not really. The TÜV does not have a problem with open source.

But you need a manufacturer and a company that stands behind it.

But open source car does not equal diy car.

[–] DarkMetatron@feddit.org 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

I never said that it is impossible, but the bureaucratic obstacles are nightmare inducing huge. And the TÜV is the smallest enemy, the end boss would be the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt for the operating permit.

Every single open source EV would, by law, need a new certification after every installation of a new or changed software to ensure that it still has all the required assistance systems and security features activated and working correctly. The same for the emissions values and other enviromental protection laws.

Edit: Hmm, after reading my post i have to say that emissions would not be a problem with an EV 😅

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[–] duncan_bayne@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

A browser. Just make a browser. A FUCKING BROWSER. Don't bloviate on other topics. Don't bake AI into it. Just do ONE THING well ... make a FUCKING BROWSER.

[–] mastod0n@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago

I generally get your point and support it but want to point out that the Mozilla Foundation is a different entity than the Mozilla Corporation.

[–] Batmorous@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

There can be a couple big things done. A browser being one of them. The open source community is always growing and not everybody has to work on a browser.

Why you so mad about the prospect of open source vehicles?

[–] DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

Good luck with that in the EU. Try to bypass eCall and your car won't score 5 stars on the Euro NCAP scale.

[–] melsaskca 3 points 1 month ago

I'm retired. I'll show up and turn bolts all day for free coffee and a couple of laughs.

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How exactly will my impoverished ass, who can't afford meds, has nothing left to eat atm, and is watching his parents go under with an Aspergers brother, supposed to design advanced electronic vehicles?

[–] Batmorous@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

To build as a community I meant. I expanded on this in the opensource community via cross post

Much love to ya though you'll pull through. Its a pain to go through all that but it will be worth it.

Try joining and getting to know actual people from all kinds of groups: open source, Linux, etc. I'm sure some people would be willing to hire for simple tech jobs or other jobs in marketing, etc

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Ok, I followed the link. We will see if I ever actually have time for it though.

EDIT: Read up more, residental stuff is more important right now. Need to design a cheap toolkit that will allow people to live off-grid.

[–] Batmorous@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago

All good go for it. We all can focus on different things that are good to build up. Good luck

[–] Nednarb44@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'll try to find it, but I thought I saw an organization that was trying to come up with a standard Linux flavor for vehicles. If not, it definitely needs to happen

[–] speculate7383@lemmy.today 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Nednarb44@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

There it is, I think that's the one I looked into a while ago. Nice find

[–] EugeneNine@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

Growing up my grandfather always had those big thick JCWhitney catalogs. They had nearly ever replacement part of a jeep. So I always wanted to buy one of the fiberglass replacement tubs (body) and make an aluminum frame under it and a bunch of batteries and a couple motors.

[–] LifeLikeLady@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Until Mozilla removes their AI ambitions , you can add yourself to the list. I mean, you don't make cars. But still.

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