“Selling ads” is not the appropriate analogue here. It’s selling precise location data. Tesla apparently does not currently sell location data from its vehicles, but it’s not inconceivable that they will one day, whether or not you perceive it in the form of in-car ads.

I'm no fan of Tesla, but they area hardly unique in having a car with an embedded cellular modem that is in constant communication back to the mothership. Indeed I challenge you to find ANY car for sale today that isn't automatically tethered to it's manufacturer. It's also why I have zero desire to change any of my older cars for something "better". I wish I could find a site that would catalog which cars out there can have their embedded cellular modems disabled and not freakout/threaten to stop working.

Certainly not. In this regard, Tesla is no worse (and very possibly better) than most other manufacturers. My point was about potential and future profit; that kind of data is hard to resist in a less hospitable market.

Were I to own a car, I’d probably in the same boat as you.

Just wait until he starts putting twitter front and center in the infotanment system