BrandonSE is more correct. ATT & T-Mobile use GSMbut Verizon is CDMA. GSM has NOTHING to do with GPS or with the cell tower knowing its position. Obviously the position of the cell tower is known when they put it up. They don't migrateso the position never changes. You could put the lat/lon on a brass plaque and it would never changeso there is no reason for it to "determine its position."
If your phone did not have GPS it would not know its own position. If your car does not have a GPS receiver it does not know its own positionand the cell tower does not have the ability to identify the position of the phone or the car. By knowing which cell towers can "see" the phonea very rough idea of its general area can be guessedbut not with any degree of accuracy.
Somy original question was this (and the Toyota dealer is still trying to figure out the answer): Some people claim that the car's navigation system does not have a GPS receiver and cannot tell your position unless you have a cell phone with GPS on boardand the car can read that from the phone. (The Apple Play app and
Android Auto app may allow the car to access your phone's GPS and use that for navigationbut I don't know.) Other people claim that the car does in fact have its own GPS receiverbut that you can't use the navigation system (based on that GPS) unless you buy the subscription. (Personally I think that is the actual situationbut still trying to get a straight answer.)
This apparently a very illusive subjectsince there are obviously lots of smart people on here and nobody seems to know the answer for sure. And Toyota is apparently very stingy about the information as well. It ain't that tough. Don't know why they can't/won't just tell us how it works.
