https://peertube.tv/videos/watch/15ccad09-b007-4b42-8370-b17cb871687a The Volkswagen Group — one in every ten cars sold worldwide — has quietly locked down third-party API access to its connected vehicle services, making it exclusively pay-to-play for developers and killing off the open-source tools thousands of owners relied on for solar charging, Home Assistant integrations, and more. The official reason? Data protection. The reality? Meet CARIAD — the same software arm that left 800,000 customers' vehicle data sitting in an unprotected cloud bucket, no password required. We dig into why Volkswagen's decision is bad for owners, bad for security, and bad for the right-to-repair movement — and why, if history is any guide, enthusiasts will find another way in anyway. Plus: why open-source API access makes connected cars more secure, not less, and what hardware alternatives already exist for owners who want their data back. If you're a Transport Evolved regular, you know how we feel about this. And if you're new here — welcome. Pull up a chair. 00:00 - Introduction 02:55 - The Volkswagen Group is massive 04:45 - Locking down the API 05:30 - What an API is 08:12 - Volkswagen used to quietly allow third-party access 09:05 - The announcement 09:47 - Why the Volkswagen Group says it's doing it 10:54 - "Tough Love"? 12:48 - VW Group isn't the first... or the last 14:59 - It'd be easy to rant... but... 15:33 - A reminder why we're here 16:55 - Why telematics need to be more open 18:12 - An example of good behavior: EVCC 19:55 - Cutting off Home Assistant 20:25 - Captive audiences can be advertised to 21:03 - Security through obfuscation 23:26 - Folks are already reverse engineering it 24:46 - There are other ways... OVMS for a start 26:51 - Thanks and Goodbye! Sources and Further Reading: The VW API Announcement Volkswagen Group Info Services AG — Original April 2, 2026 announcement https://drivesomethinggreater.com/newsroom/short-news/2026-4-02-Transition The CARIAD Data Breach BleepingComputer — 800,000 EV owners' data exposed via misconfigured AWS bucket https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/customer-data-from-800-000-electric-cars-and-owners-exposed-online/ TechCrunch — Terabytes of VW Group customer data left exposed for months https://techcrunch.com/?p=2937618 Dark Reading — Breakdown of what data was exposed and who was affected https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/volkswagen-breach-exposes-data-of-800k-customers Further Reading Heise Online — Deep dive into what the API closure actually broke https://www.heise.de/en/news/VW-cuts-owners-access-to-their-own-vehicle-data-with-API-change-11312776.html Electrive — Industry perspective on the closure and its implications https://www.electrive.com/2026/06/01/vw-locks-api-for-external-charging-control/ Consumer Rights Wiki — Detailed timeline of the shutdown and community response https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Volkswagen_Carnet_API_shutdown Open Source For You — EU Data Act implications of the closure https://www.opensourceforu.com/2026/06/volkswagen-api-shake-up-triggers-eu-data-act-questions/ EVCC GitHub Discussion — Community thread tracking the closure in real time https://github.com/evcc-io/evcc/discussions/30236 Open Source Tools EVCC — Open-source solar EV charging controller https://evcc.io/en/ EVCC on GitHub — Source code https://github.com/evcc-io/evcc OVMS — Open Vehicle Monitoring System https://www.openvehicles.com OVMS on GitHub — Source code https://github.com/openvehicles/Open-Vehicle-Monitoring-System-3 Nikki's local-fcsp Home Assistant integration — Open-source Ford Charge Station Pro integration https://github.com/aminorjourney/local-fcsp Background Cory Doctorow — "Enshittification": the term used in this video, and the concept behind it https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys 👥 Today’s Sponsors 🌱 Electric Vehicle Association - https://www.myeva.org ⚡ EnergySage - https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101290941-16952262 — ✊ Get Involved 🗳️ https://indivisible.org/town-hall-resources ❤️ Support the Show 📰 https://www.transportevolved.com 🔥 https://www.patreon.com/transportevolved ☕ https://ko-fi.com/transportevolved 📺 https://www.youtube.com/transportevolved 👕 https://www.redbubble.com/people/TransportEVd/ 🛍️ https://amzn.to/40xOyjm ₿ 1QRZRGCCXUKPDZ2DZ9KX9JYJXMZDYHYGFZ0MN4WH 💬 Join the Conversation 🐘 https://mastodon.transportevolved.com/@show 💬 https://discord.gg/9WAjfQn 💬 https://fluxer.gg/mcj8aehg 🌀 https://bsky.app/profile/transportevolved.bsky.social 🔁 Subscribe to our 2nd channel - https://www.youtube.com/transportevolvedtake2 🎙️ Credits: Host, Script, Editor: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield Color: Vi Horton Art & Animation : Erin Carlie Producer: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield Music: via Artlist.io Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:43:40 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.tv https://peertube.tv/client/assets/images/icons/icon-1500x1500.png https://peertube.tv/videos/watch/15ccad09-b007-4b42-8370-b17cb871687a All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.tv/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.