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Slate, a customizable EV pickup for $20k
(electrek.co)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
So it's not coming to Europe then.
Is there a requirement for big brother data tracking over there?
Cars must be able to autonomously call emergency services. You don't need a SIM for that, or for that matter have the modem switched on all the time.
I'm from the states, but what's stopping one from removing the modem or snipping the antenna?
Possibly, technical inspections. I'm not sure whether it's a requirement for cars to be street legal or just a requirement for cars to be sold on the market. The regulation only mentions that it's about type approval but it's not like modifying a car automatically nullifies its type approval.
Certainly would be hard to argue for authorities that snipping the eCall would endanger others, similar situation as with seat belts I don't think legislation is unified there.
Why would you?
They sell emergency car lights that you pop up on top of the car ala secret police (but yellow). They have a modem that when activated automatically notifies the road services of you being there stopped.
...and that system is only activated in case of an accident. The spec explicitly states that there is no continuous tracking of vehicle position or other parameters.
No but the emergency assistant system is required, and for that you need a cell modem.