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We are about to trade in our 99 Corolla for a Kia Soul EV. One of the things I really dislike about it is that something (the GPS beacon?) will send location data and possibly other info about our driving habits. Any idea how to disable this for this particular model?

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    Are you talking about UVO?
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 3:13
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    Short of removing the antenna (means losing gps/radio/sirius) module I don't think you'll be able to do what you want. If you're feeling adventurous pull the antenna module and take a look at the board.
    – Ben
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 5:30
  • Yes, I guess I do mean UVO, and I'm not above removing an antenna.
    – J Kelly
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 13:30
  • I don't want a smartphone app. I don't want help finding my car in a parking lot. I hate taking directions from a gps. I don't make phone calls while driving. I won't pay for satellite radio. I find the whole computer distracting, but I would probably use it to play normal radio (if it can) and for whatever charging management functions it has. Mostly I mind that it's sending my data out, either broadcasting to sensors "hey here I am" or giving Kia a map of where I go regularly. I don't want it collecting my voice recognition data. Sorry, tech privacy curmudgeon.
    – J Kelly
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 13:35
  • news.microsoft.com/2012/05/16/…
    – J Kelly
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 13:39

2 Answers 2

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Just looked up the update process for UVO and based on the size of the update, it does look like its running right from that SD card: https://www.myuvo.com/support/avn40plus_sop/software-update/software-update.shtml

Make sure you have the following:

SD Card from your Navigation head unit
Computer with SD card slot
Windows XP® or higher or OS X 10.7® or higher
More than 27GB of free hard disk space

27GB is big enough to be an OS, nevermind just the "features". Doesn't specify how big the card itself is, but compared to the price of the car, even a 128GB card from a brand name is cheap...

Also:

If you do not wish to download the update, you may purchase an updated SD card from MnSoft America

Never heard of them, but answers where the software comes from.

That being said, I'm betting there's a SIM card in there somewhere that you could remove to kill its connectivity and keep most of the features without letting it report back...

[EDIT: I mentioned keeping it because the UVO page does mention it's being used for diagnostics]

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The dealership says driving without the SD card should be sufficient.

Revised: I used to notice that my car lights would occasionally turn themselves on or brighten, seemingly at random. Having observed this for a long time, I now realize that it happens when joining a highway from an entrance ramp. Therefore I am quite sure that this answer is incorrect. The antenna is easy to remove; it just screws off.

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    you mean the SIM card? SD cards are for storage, hard to see how that would influence communications.
    – Hobbes
    Commented Feb 14, 2017 at 15:05
  • Yeah, I was kind of suspicious. It does seem to invalidate every remote operation, though. No maps, etc. Maybe it holds the entire operating system for uvo? What do you think?
    – J Kelly
    Commented Feb 14, 2017 at 15:40
  • Possible, but then you'd expect to lose the entire user interface on that screen. Can you read the SD card?
    – Hobbes
    Commented Feb 14, 2017 at 15:57
  • Haven't tried, but it's a good thought. I bet UVO is provided to Kia on those SDs as a product by MS or whoever, not built in. The "computer" isn't much besides a radio, climate control, setup menu without it.
    – J Kelly
    Commented Feb 14, 2017 at 20:17

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