I tried a $99 plug that promises to track your car and send help when needed — without selling your data

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I tried a $99 plug that promises to track your car and send help when needed — without selling your data. The Miles Plug adds crash detection, roadside help, location tracking, and a warning-light decoder to your car for as low as $11 a month.

我尝试了一款售价 99 美元的车载插件，它承诺在无需出售用户数据的前提下，提供车辆追踪和紧急救援服务。Miles Plug 为您的汽车增加了碰撞检测、道路救援、位置追踪以及故障灯解码功能，每月费用最低仅需 11 美元。

My 15-year-old daughter just got her learner’s permit, so when I was pitched a new gadget tailored to teen drivers, I was intrigued. The Miles Plug is a small device that plugs into your car’s OBD-II port and monitors location, driving habits, and vehicle health, along with emergency accident response and roadside assistance.

我 15 岁的女儿刚拿到驾照，所以当有人向我推荐这款专为青少年驾驶员设计的新设备时，我产生了浓厚的兴趣。Miles Plug 是一款小型设备，插入汽车的 OBD-II 接口后，即可监控车辆位置、驾驶习惯和车辆健康状况，并提供事故紧急响应和道路救援服务。

Billed as “a wearable for your car,” Miles is a tiny cellular and GPS-enabled device that connects to an app to deliver real-time location, alerts, and driving insights (speeding, hard braking, trip recaps). The app also features an AI chatbot called the Miles Mechanic that decodes warning lights, tells you how urgent a fix is, and estimates repair costs.

Miles 被称为“汽车的可穿戴设备”，它是一款内置蜂窝网络和 GPS 功能的小型设备，通过连接应用程序，可以提供实时位置、警报和驾驶分析（如超速、急刹车、行程回顾）。该应用还配备了一个名为“Miles Mechanic”的 AI 聊天机器人，可以解读故障灯、告知维修紧迫性并估算维修费用。

Miles is available today at mileslabs.com and costs $99, plus $180 for a year of membership ($279 total, or $15 a month). A three-year plan is $396 with the Plug included ($11 a month). All plans are paid upfront with no auto-renewal. Anyone in the family can download and use the app, with each driver getting their own profile and alerts.

Miles 目前已在 mileslabs.com 上架，售价 99 美元，另需支付 180 美元的年度会员费（总计 279 美元，或每月 15 美元）。三年套餐售价 396 美元，包含插件费用（每月 11 美元）。所有套餐均需预付，且无自动续费。家庭成员均可下载并使用该应用，每位驾驶员都有自己的个人资料和警报设置。

McGovren says Miles will never sell vehicle, trip, or location data, and the app has no ads: “You’re the customer, you’re not the product. Your data is not the product.” He says, “All the vehicle and trip data is encrypted,” adding that “the most sensitive data is end-to-end encrypted.”

McGovren 表示，Miles 绝不会出售车辆、行程或位置数据，且该应用没有任何广告：“您是客户，而不是产品。您的数据也不是产品。”他补充道：“所有车辆和行程数据均已加密，最敏感的数据更是采用了端到端加密。”

I set up Miles in my 2014 Toyota Highlander I nicknamed Tanya and have been using it for a couple of days. Setup was simple, and the app is clean, uncluttered, and easy to follow. It took me through a few setup screens, including asking to share my phone’s location to relay data from the Plug over Bluetooth when cell service is spotty.

我在我那辆昵称为“Tanya”的 2014 款丰田汉兰达上安装了 Miles，并已经使用了几天。设置过程很简单，应用程序界面简洁明了，易于操作。它引导我完成了几个设置页面，包括请求共享手机位置，以便在蜂窝网络信号不佳时通过蓝牙传输插件数据。

I played with the Miles Mechanic chatbot and asked how my car is and what upcoming maintenance is due; it answered in plain English, telling me the cabin air filter is due at about 140,000 miles, and the oil change and tire rotation at 142,500.

我试用了 Miles Mechanic 聊天机器人，询问了车辆状况及即将进行的保养项目；它用通俗易懂的语言回答了我，告诉我空调滤芯大约在 14 万英里时需要更换，机油更换和轮胎换位则在 14.25 万英里时进行。

Beyond car battery life, an obvious concern for prospective users is how long Miles the company will last. Startup Automatic had a similar idea back in 2016, launching the Automatic Pro for $130 that plugged into your OBD-II port, tracked mileage and location, and monitored for crashes over a 3G radio. The service shut down in 2020.

除了汽车电池寿命问题外，潜在用户显而易见的担忧是 Miles 这家公司能存续多久。初创公司 Automatic 在 2016 年曾有过类似的想法，推出了售价 130 美元的 Automatic Pro，它同样插入 OBD-II 接口，通过 3G 网络追踪里程、位置并监控碰撞。该服务已于 2020 年关闭。