Lockstep processors, hardware security modules with immutable unreadable keys, and PKI keys that the mfg holds the private for that can only be accessed on their online services.
It’s locked down now and this started in 2018 or so. It’s just worse now.
To automotive, there is really still no right to repair. They get around it by selling “3 day passes” to their service, but with their hardware and at their prices.
They’re all moving the Tesla system of more centralized brain systems which will be even more protected.
Let's be clear that it's just incentives. If the EU economy was based on creating companies and new products there would not be as many incentives for consumer "rights" there.
Claude is quick to refuse to help with reverse engineering and I suspect it's only going to get worse over time.
As far as I can tell no manufacturer disables the car yet when detecting modifications, or take drivers to court for doing it, yet.
Why would they? They just need to fund lobbyist to make it illegal for any AI to reverse engineer anything copyrighted or with IP.
Sure, you can use open source AI to do it but not everyone will/can do it.
So, they don't need to ban everyone, they just need to make sure the final code isn't available freely on GitHub. That would minimize the damage, it's not a perfect solution but more than enough to protect the company.
I suspect you're right BUT still maintain a bit of optimism. We miiiight end up in a future where most hardware comes with an OK-ish app/interface and some sort of LLM-Friendly technical documentation so if you don't like $aspect of the device, you're free to roll your own after indemnifying the manufacturer via something like an eFuse.
or maybe I really am naive :(
I think most people on here fail to realize the demand to customize and build things hasnt gone up. Just because llms exist now doesnt mean normies all of a sudden want to start getting into programming, they dont care.
The only number thats gone up is people who were slightly interested in programming/CS before but were too undisciplined to learn things themselves. Llms are great for those lazy people.
Even if AI goes away tomorrow, the tools will still exist.
very cool project anyway.
What he did was technically interesting, but probably not a great solution to the actual problem.
It definitely feels like a classic case of the operator reinforcing Claude to keep pursuing a goal that’s counterproductive to a robust solution. Claude complied and they went hard on it but I can’t imagine the driver is any better off and more likely in a worse spot as the underlying issue wasn’t solved.
I assume Tesla does that already.
> Claude suggested that it would run the fuel pump on its own. Um and I said, "Hey, if you can do that, why not? I don't think you can do that." And it started priming the fuel rail and it kept priming it and kept priming it. The fuel pump was on for about 10 seconds and I started to freak out uh and requested it to stop because that was the first time that Claude had actually done something inside of the computer to have a change.
Although we've seen this play out with handing cloud keys to Claude and it just going off on its own, seeing it poke around and make physical, real-world changes in its clumsy, cavalier way is both awesome and terrifying.
finnicking... pondering... clauding..
529 please try again later
I have a dirtbike and experienced some stuttering and stumbling under load after getting hot. Used Claude to help troubleshoot, as the plug was white and it was real lean. Replaced the pump (a 300$ module) and saved a ton of money and annoyance having a shop deal with it. 2000mi later zero issues. Absolutely game-changing. I use a dumb aftermarket fuel controller to add fuel under certain conditions, but would love to try and tune it myself some day.
yolo engineering for ya.
I've got a "get you home box" for EFI systems with separate ignition, like Bosch LE-Jetronic that I built a few of as clones of an insanely expensive device some 20 years ago. It really just consisted of a couple of 555 timers and a bloody great MOSFET, with one 555 wired as a Schmitt trigger picking up ignition pulses and the other delivering a 1ms pulse to the injector coils every time the spark fired. This dribbled enough fuel into the engine roughly proportionately to engine RPM to let you drive it slowly to somewhere you could work on it safely, or even just onto a trailer.
And of course, Speeduino, Megasquirt, and a bunch of others are a thing.
The average person is likely to feel overwhelmed by this, which I think is what is likely going to shape the new economy gig of "AI engineers". Those that aren't overwhelmed by it and that may not only enjoy doing this but also potentially figure out a way to scale operations that allow doing these kinds of DYI reverse engineer hack jobs.
At least until the robots take over
I think the whole market for aftermarket keys could be completely eradicated with good software UX (and low pricing).
Have to make the Chinese one do it.
You fall back on having to use Chinese models. In theory the Chinese models could also be trained to sneak in new security flaws while Claude and Codex would avoid looking for them.
Its not really a matter of who's good and bad (neither the US or China has the best track record), but creating a scenario where the other party can use your own policies against you.
I told it 'Let's find the limitations of this Linux system' then it made a benchmarking set of tools for disk i/o, RAM, etc
When using Gemini on my phone it also told me it'll be 'human reviewed.' when asking it about car prices.
Also when saying 'let's use best security practices'
o_O
But of course, the major US labs are going to get pressure from these vendors whose business models depend on obfuscation, and you know they're going to bend the knee and nerf the LLMs.
It's dominated by Chinese manufacturers of specialty tools (Autel, Xhorse, ...), which inevitably mandate bundled accounts, subscriptions, mandatory cloud features, etc. Even the older cars, you have either cheap Chinese tools, where you never know wheather it'll really work, or the manufacturer's tool which needs a dealer code, which of course the dealer won't have after 20 years.
I wrote about my 20 year old car-key-adding adventure here: https://jonas.bike/low-cost-diy-key-/-transponder-for-my-200... - it requires desoldering an eeprom, two pieces of hardware from aliexpress which come with pirated copies of software, and lots of hope that it'll work...
An open source community curated collection of scripts, which works with a cheap OBD dongle (which is all the chinese devices are: OBD hardware + per-car software), would be amazing.