Saw first on HN. It’s a very cool guide on how to do so, but more generally a write-up on why he did so and how to approach the problem.
Just keep in mind that as highlighted here (related thread (Rivian allows to disable data)) cars nowadays have emergency calling (calls emergency service in a car crash where you are unconscious) and removing the modem WILL disable that feature. That’s just a compromise you need to be willing to make.*
* Technically, some other solutions like a smart watch connected to a phone might fix it. But if you keep your phone in Airplane mode - as you should- I am not sure it would work,.especially on Graphene OS.
Depending on your countries legislation it could be much more than a “compromise”, it could be flat out illegal and you might lose your insurance coverage and/or invalidate your vehicles type approval.
Cool read. Funny enough, I also saw a video about something like it today.
I have no idea, if any of it is true or not.
Depending on your countries legislation it could be much more than a “compromise”, it could be flat out illegal and you might lose your insurance coverage and/or invalidate your vehicles type approval.
The legality depends on the country, however I’m pretty sure every insurance on the world will not pay you a single cent if you have an accident with a car with this modification.
Do you have a source for this? I’ve never seen an insurance policy contain an exclusion clause for lack of cellular service or GPS signal.
That doesn’t even make sense. Not having cellular tracking doesn’t make you more likely to have a car accident.
Exactly! My car doesn’t even have an internet connection so does that mean my insurance policy is invalid?
It makes all the sense.
In my country it’s like this:
You make a modification to the core system of your car → type approval for the car is invalidated → you do not get the special individual approval from the authorities for this change (which costs a couple thousand €uros) → you are driving a vehicle without the technical permit → insurance company refuses to pay anything AND you’ll get a huge fine on top of that if anything happens.
So what if you put the antenna into a Faraday bag instead of disconnecting the modem? The board computer will not detect any fault, just no cellular signal.
(laughs in 2009 Subaru Forester)
You all in your fancy new cars! 
Feel free to send me the EU country you are from in DM if you feel comfortable.
I don’t think removing cellular connectivity can be viewed as a core part of the car. If so, why haven’t car insurance companies complained that the near end of 2G/3G in Europe will make many many cars emergency call not working?
And in any case, in my EU country, I have never heard of people getting in trouble for tuning their car.
The law is one thing, but always look how it is applied. Us privacy folks always need to consider gray areas and how to exploit then.
Disclaimer: Not legal advice, haven’t checked the law.
Can you link an example in any country where anything similar/adjacent to your claim of impact occurred as a result of a same/similar modification?
Isn’t this covered by EU’s eCall?
"Compulsory for new car models
If you buy a new model of car, approved for manufacture after 31 March 2018, it must have the 112-based eCall system installed. This rule applies both to cars with no more than 8 seats and light commercial vehicles. If you have a car which is already registered, you are not obliged to retrofit an eCall device but you can have it installed if your car meets the technical requirements."