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Tesla Model 3 Modded To Run Ubuntu (cleantechnica.com)
140Mandak262Jamuna writes: CleanTechnica is reporting that someone hacked the infotainment system of a Tesla Model 3 and got root access and installed Linux distribution Ubuntu. Redditor trsohmers is able to show an Ubuntu command shell running alongside the Tesla OS. Since Tesla supports a browser that allows you to visit any site, could this be leveraged into remote hacks? It could also mean that if Tesla sells a long-range version of the Model 3, but limits it via software, people might try to remove the block. One could potentially get a 15-day trial of full self-driving for free and extend that 15-day window forever. At least he had some guts messing with $50,000 hardware that phones home all the time. Will Tesla brick his car to attempt to disprove the security issue?
"There's no way they're spending any extra money on a separate computer for security purposes when there's a strong case to be made that software can be made sufficiently secure."
You have that backwards, though. It would cost more to make one computer that could do all of those jobs, because integration isn't free. It's actually cheaper to break it up, not least because each piece can be built to different standards.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Exactly - it's cheaper and easier to build separate computers engineered for separate purposes. Making one computer that can support everything from realtime engine control to playing Atari games on the console, in a way that guarantees that nothing can interfere with the realtime operation of the car is a very hard (likely impossible) engineering problem, when everything is sharing one CPU and memory. For that pragmatic reason, there are many, many computers inside a Tesla, or any other modern car. There's one for running the infotainment system, which controls the UI and sound. There's a dedicated system that manages the batteries. There's the system running AutoPilot. There are dozens of little controllers for sensors and other devices. This allows each system to be engineered to its own needs, be powered on or off separately, replaced by systems from new suppliers, etc.
In particular, in the Tesla the infotainment system is separate from the system that drives the car. You can even "reboot the car" while driving, and not lose control of the car, because it's only rebooting the infotainment system, but the steering, brakes, etc., keep working.
Enable 3D printed prosthetics!