I want to think of what a bring your own fob system would look like.
Remote start (and entry) was a relatively common aftermarket option long before most people had Internet access, and you can probably still get such systems today.
A few days ago, some Tesla owner on HN listed all the reasons it's awesome to have an internet-connected car.
Every item he listed existed before the internet, and in no way requires an internet connection. Except for one thing about using the car as some kind of surveillance camera.
My car's old enough & non-electrical enough that it would probably run even if we EMP'ed the area or dropped a neutron bomb nearby. It mostly sits and looks pretty. So I'm not super in tune with what all this connected car or in-car infotainment & control stuff is about. But it seems sensible enough to me. I'm un-tech/somewhat-un-car, but I think it's really weird what a cantankerous anti-tech 'bah car's were better before internet' / you-dont-need-that view there is that so quickly arises.
It makes sense to me to want to be able to pre-heat a car, even if it's slightly out of wifi range, maybe parked down the street a bit or around the block. I don't have the experience, but I'd like to see some more willingness to accept or consider without jumping to reject. I feel like we're being rash to judge. I don't know what else this is good for, why I'd want it, what it's for. But I believe very strongly in making means possible, in using connectivity to open doors of possibility, extending people's range of agency, giving them force multipliers.
Given the very very very tiny amounts of data it needs, this stuff should be easy, should be free; it's just embarrassing to me that 99.99% of cellular providers make this stuff incredibly difficult/complicated for consumers: it's something Google-Fi for example shamed these fools with, by giving away free data-only sims that use your existing plan. Anyone else doing anything else feels like an old world exploiter. There's nearly no real marginal cost to the network, it's all just profit-motive, and it's a stupid brake on possibility.
Let's take the brakes off. Let's try to leave the doors of perception & possibility open.
In Canada Toyota themselves offer Start+ which is long range starter add-on where you get an extra fob. I initially thought the subscription requirement was to give users a reason to keep buying it.
Remote start (and entry) was a relatively common aftermarket option long before most people had Internet access, and you can probably still get such systems today.