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Tesla Hacker Launches Open-Source Project 'FreedomEV' To Run On Rooted Teslas, Bring New Wi-Fi Hotspot and Anti-Tracking Features (freedomev.com)
Slashdot reader internet-redstar writes: The Tesla Hacker, Jasper Nuyens -- who uncovered Tesla's "unconfirmed lane change" last year -- now launched at FOSDEM an open-source project called "FreedomEV" to run on top of rooted Teslas. It adds new features to the vehicles, such as a "Hotspot Mode" for in-car Wi-Fi and a "Cloak Mode" to prevent all location tracking and more. It hopes to become available for other cars too. Full presentation video can be found here. The Github project and the website. He is looking for contributors and support from Tesla.
Now if i was an insurance company, i would call the insurance void for any car with rooted software.
Not because this particular software is so dangerous, but other software maybe is. That, and the manufacturer can no longer be held liable and/or the vehicle is not on the road as when in tested conditions that approved it. Rooting your car's software might have all kind of unexpected side effects. Even if it's only the entertainment system, in a Tesla that's still highly integrated with the rest of the car.
Now of course i'm not an insurance company, and i would prefer cars to have a full stack of open-source software, that the user could upgrade or change at will. But i do think there are legal issues that have to be dealt with, in case of an error, being it user or software or company's fault.
A glitch a day keeps the bugs away.
Nice that the Slashdot Editors take such pride in their work.
I'm not saying it's a bad idea but do you really want to be messing with your car using JavaScript, Unix shell and PHP? I know you're thinking, "but those are the most reliable languages!" and I'm going to have to disagree because that title clearly belongs to Adobe Flash and Microsoft ActiveX. ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Pursue this hacker-crim to the ends of the earth, all four corners if need be. Up with this Musk can not put.
Elon doesn't own any vehicles either ... Protip for the cubicle commandos, CEOs of big companies usually drive company owned cars. They don't have to spend personal money on them or deal with the tax or depreciation liabilities like regular chumps do.
You don't get obscenely wealthy by working hard, you do it by outsmarting those too stupid to think up their own rules.
The slashdot of today makes me sad. Root your car? That's cool as hell!
Tesla is shipping 100kWh batteries that are software limited to 75kWh for their cheaper cars. Would be nice if you could unlock the extra 25% capacity.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
The guy in that video sounds like one of Putin's h@X0Rs and he's meddling with American cars. We need to keep the fatherland, motherland and homeland safe and secure from foreign people like him. What if the al-Qaeda sleeper cells hack my Tesla and use it to melt more skyscrapers? Real TV news says jet fuel makes steel-framed skyscrapers fall straight down so it could happen! Yikes! ae911truth dot org
When its pulled out of a lake and repaired?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
I suspect vehicle manufacturers will soon lobby state DMVs to fail the inspection of any vehicles that is running has non-manufacturer approved software.
It's for the safety of the children.
See Ghaffari v. Co-operators General Insurance Co., 1996 CanLII 8031 (ON SC), http://canlii.ca/t/1vtth, as retrieved on 2019-02-09
davecb@spamcop.net
Indian "girls" smell like shit, and are ugly and hairy, too. Fuck off.
Those purchasing the 75kWH batteries are getting batteries that will last much longer and get 25kWH upgrades in case of emergencies like hurricanes.
Unlocking the latent capacity permanently is simplicity itself: Pay for the 25kWH upgrade -- Oh but you want it for free... Do you still want a pony too?
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
I think it's hilarious that the mods went crazy on this. I guess they didn't read the post subject... or anything else. ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Hacking anything that falls under health/life safety is really not a good idea.
Imagine how much faster I could get things done if I hacked the light curtain on the guillotine paper cutter at work!
Yeah, lets not go there.
I read this thread and omg... do you guys even car? One can change any mechanical or software component on current vehicles. And that's not even the half of it; the ones screeching the loudest about this probably wear their brake pads to a nub and refuse to fix anything until it becomes catastrophic. Guess what, their insurance isn't dropping them, they don't get tickets, they keep driving. Then they argue with the mechanic on why things need to be replaced so they don't actually kill them cuz they're getting "ripped off".
But now software controls? OMG! Rooting should be illegal, what if people do this or do that? I'm completely ignorant as to how vehicles work but I'm about to dictate to you what you can and can't do with your property. Am I reading this right? Slashdotters going statist about software modifications to HW you own? Did I stumble into a PTA meeting of moms demand conformity? Tesla requires your location data for the "chillun".
These aren't even mods to the drive train and all the scared ignorance comes out. Its really underscoring where all the other intrusive regulation in my life comes from. Slashdotters, its not a good look for you.
Those purchasing the 75kWH batteries are getting batteries that will last much longer and get 25kWH upgrades in case of emergencies like hurricanes.
Unlocking the latent capacity permanently is simplicity itself: Pay for the 25kWH upgrade -- Oh but you want it for free... Do you still want a pony too?
Many of us have the financial sense not to allow ourselves to be nickel and dimed for BS reasons.
You can just set the charge limit to 75% if you want to extend your battery life by the same amount. And yeah, I want it for free, it's my car and if I decide I don't need Tesla's on-going support I'll maximize its performance and utility for myself, thank you very much.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
No Ami, they're not doing that anymore. They had always intended on putting smaller packs in the cheaper cars, but early production issues made it more cost effective to just stuff the larger pack in all of them.
Yes, technically the packs have a longer life than what is advertised. But draining them too much can degrade them faster, so they're limited to prevent overdrain... just like the batteries in your smartphone. It's very similar to how HDD and SSD have more actual capacity than advertised, the extra is kept "hidden" in order to make them have a longer effective lifespan.
In most states, there are inspections to varying degrees by competent, licensed , trained mechanics. The state legislature figured that uninspected vehicles cause societal harm.
So inspections for tires, brakes, emissions were codified and rolled out. This includes inspections of mods, like lights.
So now imaging that a tesla has been rooted. And someone messes with the braking algorithms to optimize charging over stopping distance, and they messed those up. The issue isn't, like others have said here, will it be insured. The issue is, can a reasonable inspector determine if the mods met the inspection requirements?
And the answer is:
- can legislation be written well enough, and
- can it be reasonably inspected?
Obviously, the answer right now is no and no.
I would expect legislation to be started in lean forward states to require inspectors to check for hashes of software of control systems that are certified by the manufacturer. Just like how they do emissions inspections today (and yes, VW cheated): inspectors pass risk through to the manufacturer.
For me, theres a societal good for right to repair of your John deere and laptop, which makes sense. And then there's a right to repair for a vehicle that can kill me & mine. That means "expect legislation re inspections in a decade or so, rolling out first in the socialist state of Cali." But a bunch of upper middle class or rich folks are gonna be killed first (all regulations are written in the blood of the victims).
Tesla fanboi's to the rescue
The combination of an open cellular network connection, unaccessable proprietary software w/ drm like controls, unavoidable surveillance, and autodrive tech....
I could afford one... But Tesla- to me- is a non-starter due to all this- an machine built for dystopia and fascism- for neoslavery. Frankly, I don't even like having to share the road with them.
Let me shut off that internet, not be spied on- and make it so I am in firm control of the updates/changes made over time. That starts to look like something worth looking into at least.
As is= Tesla's are like Cell phones- and I'm extraordinarily disappointed/disturbed by how many people are ok with that, or just not paying attention.
It is about friggin time that consumers got to control the software their cars are running.
I own a 2008 Ford Superduty that has a basically non function nav system because the optical disk is so out of date and buggy that the maps are unusable. And the optical drive stopped working. Ford wants $300 for a new disk and $1000 for a new center unit.
It is just stupid how fast the center console electronics gets outdated these days. And you can't add apps. Why doesn't the center console run Android and let users add apps and connect devices via USB, Bluetooth ? Android Auto is a joke compared to running native Android. Ford Sync is terrible. Every manufacturer just has to have their own proprietary system. It is stupid. Planned obsolescence at it's best.
The best infotainment system you can buy is your phone. Why can't manufacturers leverage that in their vehicles instead of trying to reinvent the wheel with their own crap. I love how GM et al is advertising their cars as beeing hot spots. Really, my phone did that 4 years ago and I don't need another sim card or proprietary data plan to do it. Are consumers stupid ?
This has been a pet peeve of mine for a long, long time.
Seriously, I am amazed at some of the comments here.
Look, I buy a thing. It is mine. We own a Tesla. It is ours. We extended our warranty and even when it expires, we will continue with Tesla service. Why? Because they are excellent.
Obviously, if you root your car, then Tesla no longer has any responsibility to your. At that point, Tesla can, and should, shut down all communications to the car. That means that the telephony connection should be stopped. No more tracking. But, also no more internet/ip radio. Unless of course, they buy that from elsewhere. All in all, it should be our choice to decide whether to root, and by the same token, it is then Tesla's freedom of choice as well, as to whether to support the vehicle or not.
Simple as that.
BTW, for those of you speaking of the dangers, I have seen more issues from mechanics than I have from Computer issues. I lost an entire wheel at the axle because the Honda mechanic did not put back the shear pin. In fact, it was because of that, that we ended up with a Tesla.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Do you have a point?
numbnuts
News flash: "regular chumps" don't "deal with... depreciation liabilities."
They simply buy a car, and years later they sell it for much less.
Consider this: if you use this 'aftermarket' software to run your vehicle and you get in an accident as a result? It's all on you.
No one should use this for any reason.
It was probably just stupid and anti-intellectual, and this is a site for nerds.
Are you an idiot?
Pay extra to get full use of the battery? That makes sense to you? The battery is the big cost and Tesla is putting it in a cheaper car AND spending money to write software to gimp the battery. So the cheaper car costs more to produce then the expensive one.
It is like buying a computer that has a 12 core 4.5 Ghz processor in it but has software installed that limits it to 2 cores and 3 Ghz but is cheaper then the computer without the limit. Same hardware inside though.
You have to be a special kind of moron to think that is a good idea.
numbnuts
Do you pay your electrician a monthly fee to come over and turn your living room light on for you at sunset?
the injection profile of a ICE car has a very circumcised impact
My car prefers a circumcised injector.
Why? Do you? Do you also pay him to post obtuse remarks here on /.?
As I noted earlier there are legitimate reasons for people to prefer buying the 75kWH capacity that is delivered in a 100kWH package that are not nullified by your wanting a freebie 25kWH upgrade.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
Only superficially. 75% of 75kWH != 100% of 75kWH in terms of range and performance, and 75% of 100kWH will have a longer lifetime as well. That just leaves your wanting to get a freebie 25kWH which you attempt to justify with "because I want".
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
Just like I want my light on for free. There exists a switch. It's mine, I paid for it. I expect to be allowed to flip it.
They don't need to justify it.
Tesla sold and shipped the hardware. They just shipped better hardware than was paid for. But they still shipped it.
It's now the buyers hardware, they can do with it whatever they want, so long as they stay within the law
So no, they don't need to justify wanting a "freebie", Tesla already gave them it.
What people like you are doing however is attempting to justify why people can't do stuff with the hardware they undeniably own.
What people like you are doing however is attempting to justify why people can't do stuff with the hardware they undeniably own.
What? No we aren't. If AmiMoJo wants to hack their own car, they are free to do so.
But that isn't what they are asking for. They are asking for Tesla to unlock the full 100 kWH for them, for free. And Tesla is under no obligation to do so. Again, AmiMoJo is free to do whatever the fuck they want to the hardware they bought, but expecting Tesla to do it for them at no additional cost is ludicrous.
No, I'm saying I'll hack my car to unlock it. GP was correct.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
tesla should hire this guy, let him do his thing, make sure that his works gets officially released to your vehicles.
people who don't care about it, wont mind and those that do, will be thrilled and happy to promote your vehicles to others.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
No, I'm saying I'll hack my car to unlock it. GP was correct.
Actually, what you said was:
And yeah, I want it for free, it's my car and if I decide I don't need Tesla's on-going support I'll maximize its performance and utility for myself, thank you very much.
That sounds less like you will do the work of unlocking the capacity, and more like you want someone else (ie, Tesla) to do the work of unlocking the capacity at no additional cost to you.
But if you truly did mean that you will hack the car yourself, I can accept that you had previously misspoke. And like I said I have no problem with you hacking the car yourself.