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GM's OnStar System Hacked
Makarand writes "According to this Mercury News article users of GM's OnStar system
are finding that they can modify their OnStar unit to make it work with commercially
available mapping software after disconnecting it from the OnStar network. Websites
and message boards are rife with step-by-step instructions to personalize OnStar's navigational and communications components. When a driver requests directions from OnStar his GPS data is routed over an analog cellular network to OnStar computers and the directions are read back to the driver on the same network. The price for this service is around $400 each year. Those who tap into their OnStar systems pay no such fees."
When your arm gets cut off in your next auto accident, who will call for the ambulance?!
All they're doing is modifying the GPS unit to work with a regular computer, while at the same time making the rest of the system (including emergency functions) inoperable. Why not just pay $50 for a basic GPS receiver?
So in the end, you'll be left with people who have an Onstar box and will rather pay the $30/mo as well as their cellphone bills, blissfully unaware that they can make 911 calls for free on disconnected cellphones.
This sig no verb.
How long will it take for GM to claim that the Onstar devices are licensed, not sold? Either way, a big part of onstar is the live operator service for emergencies, how do you replace that?
Free Mac Mini Yeah, it's
I don't want OnStar for directions to restaurants or gas stations.
I like On-Star for being able to have police/rescue know exactly where I am if/when my Airbag deploys. I like On-Star for when my "check engine" light comes on, I press the button, they run a remote diagnostic on my engine's computer, and can tell me how serious the problem is and can call me a tow truck if needed. I like OnStar for being able to unlock my car when I lock my keys in the car (with an infant in the carseat). I like OnStar for being able to track, and stop my car if it is stolen.
That's worth the OnStar subscription... The other stuff is just gravy, which we never really used - so we cancelled....
I'm not about to dismiss the geek value of this, far from it. Never the less... It seems to me based on what I read all you are doing is modifying the onstar usin so your 3rd party device can get the GPS information, rather then it sent to ONSTAR(tm). Such a mod requires you to have a vehicel with the onstar device, and some basic soldering skill.
Now... assuming you don't actually own a vehicel with the ONSTAR(tm) system onboard... is there something special about it's gps reciever that would make it worthy to find one at a junk yard and purchace one? Rather then buying your own GPS reciever, laptop, and load in the approperate maping software for your enjoyment and pleasure?
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
hacking somone's onstar and sending them to the physical location of the goatse.cx server.
0wn3dStar
Maybe they can call the new system "Homestar." I'd suggest "Strongbad" but that would probably not be very popular.
What's wrong with a hand-held GPS unit and a map?
...
The answer is contained in your question : "hand-held" and "map".
And some people wonder why there are so many road accidents
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
When I went in the Site counter was
0000032
Remember, it's a site dedicated to cars. They just rolled back the counter before selling the page to Slashdot, that's all.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Has anyone seen the OnStar commercial where the OnStar rep opens the vehicle doors remotely?
How long do you think it would take to come up with a crack that allows third parties to do the same? It would make stealing cars so much easier...
Is if GM took a hint and provited a way to access the GPS without hacking the OnStar system. IR, Bluetooth, or even a cabled interface.
I see the main appeal of using the GPS unit built into the vehicle instead of buying a hand held GPS as it's one less device that needs it's battieres charged. It's likely that the people doing this already have their laptop plugged into the car's cigarette lighter/power outlet and their vehicle only offers one outlet.
It's also one less device that needs to be hidden away or carried with you when you leave the car.
I'm going to go back in my box and will think within the limits of my box: MS Sucks Linux Good I read too much Slashdot.
Have you ever used Onstar before? At least with my Grand Prix you just push the blue button, it cuts out the radio and you have hands-free communication with the person. It's kind of neat, but I've never used it so I didn't renew it when my free 1 year was up. The only advantage I saw was that if you're in an accident and the airbags deploy they'll call you to make sure emergency services gets to you. I didn't think it was worth $17 for this safety package though since I have a cell phone already. I never used it for directions since I'm a man... we never ask for directions!!! Now, if I could use my otherwise useless onstar system built into my car with a laptop then I find it interesting.
That's just because you but the wrong computer in charge. See, if you had put *ME* in charge, you woudn't have to worry about all those pesky misunderstandings. A HAL 9000 system is quite capable of understanding why you are dying.
;-)
I just might decide not to help you.
OnStar doesn't make a big deal of it, but while they emphasis the satellite aspect, the communications is pure cellular. If there's no cell coverage, you're SOL as far as OnStar is concerned.
Granted, they use the older analog AMPS network which has better coverage than the newer PCS ones, but it still has limits on where it works.
So if you're lost, OnStar will help if you can call them. If there's no cell coverage, you'd be better off if that GPS wasn't a black box in the trunk but had some sort of display and map database.
Two ways of looking at it.
Either:
$400/year for EMS contacting, vehicle location, vehicle unlocking, directions, mapping, list of local services. This is far more than what the crippled Onstar would be able to do and in my opinion well worth the investment
Or:
Delorme Mapping software - $40
Delorme Earthmate GPS - $90
Laptop Computer - $1100
This is capable of:
Mapping, GPS Location, local service look-up (gas stations, hotels, businesses, eateries, etc.) play DVD's, play MP3's, let your driving companion play Q3A. Again well worth the investment.
However since many of us geeks out there already have laptops and since it would seem that you need on to do the OnStar hacks, the $130 for a Delorme GPS rig seems to be the cheaper and FAR simpler solution.
But that's just my humble opinion
-- Wiccan Army, 13th Airborne Division "We will not fly silently into the night"
Here's the first time Batman is using it:
Batman: OnStar, I locked the keys in the Batmobile.
OnStar: Okay, let me see, looks like you are at Stately Wayne Manor... wait, your secret identity is Bruce Wayne!
Batman: Dammit.
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
... once you've lost your mouse arm, no more counter strike pwnage, whats the point in living anyway?
This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
If something went wrong with the electrical system, and they could reasonably show that your modifications to onstar could have caused it, fine, fair enough..
But "voids the warrantee" means that, if you modify the onstar system, and then a week later the rear axle falls off and the right front door hinges sieze up, they can say "sorry, you modified your onstar system, it's your problem".
The act in question means they can't just invalidate teh entire warrantee on the vehicle just because of one unrelated part.
It would be fantastic to be able to get all that information out of the car in realtime, all the time. Especially since Northstar engines are reputedly some of the most wired engines ever, and most cars with them have Onstar, it seems like something that some people might like to take advantage of. However, those motors are usually in fantastically expensive cars, so the market probably isn't very large.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I agree. It seems like the point of this "hack" is to get access to the GPS unit. Seems like a bad idea to mess with an expensive unit and possibly void your warranty, especially when you're just getting access to a $20 OEM GPS unit.
I'd say the main thing about doing this is that they've already mounted the GPS antenna and routed the cable. This is going to be cleaner looking and probably get better signal than slapping a GPS on the dashboard. It'd be nice to make a little box that sat under your dashboard, or maybe in your glove box, that you could just plug your laptop into.
I've had a little experience with the OEM GPS units in embedded systems. They send the standard NMEA strings so any GPS program can use them. The main issue is that they output TTL level (0,5V) rather than RS-232 (-12/+12). Your laptop probably won't care but some PDAs won't be able to read the data. I'd just mount the thing on a little breadboard,wire up th e power leads, run the two I/O wires to an DB-9 shell and the antenna input to the appropriate connector. Then unplug the GPS antenna from the onstar unit and plug it the antenna jack. The advantage of this is that there are no warranty issues; just plug the antenna lead back into the onstar unit when you take it in for service and nobody's the wiser.
You can get completely assembled, self contained, true RS-232 units for about $120. For less than $200 more, you can have differential GPS with 3m accuracy.
Another option I've messed with are little bluetooth enabled GPS receivers. These would be very clean and unobtrusive on a dashboard.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Those worried about big brother may want to check out this article concerning On Star. Basically, once the FBI found out they could snoop on people (OnStar apparently has a "listen" feature) they were all over it.
Not to mention the possibilities of random strangers listening in...
http://www.talknerdy.org