[HN Gopher] Create and run your own light shows on Tesla vehicles
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       Create and run your own light shows on Tesla vehicles
        
       Author : judge2020
       Score  : 142 points
       Date   : 2021-12-24 17:11 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | fnord77 wrote:
       | this seems like an RCE waiting to happen
        
         | aaomidi wrote:
         | Probably CE, not sure how this opens the door to an RCE.
        
           | bayindirh wrote:
           | It can open the doors alright it seems.
        
             | Dunedan wrote:
             | Doesn't running the light show require plugging in a USB
             | device, which in turn already requires open doors?
        
               | bayindirh wrote:
               | Actually yes, so it already needs open doors, can open
               | other doors, but both are literal. I'm not sure opening
               | these doors lead to opening the other, proverbial door to
               | CE/RCE realms. That may need some more magic.
        
       | kwhitefoot wrote:
       | My 2015 Model S 70D is not supported :-(
        
       | gfodor wrote:
       | Lol all the negative replies here really drives home the "hacker"
       | spirit in "hacker news"
        
         | akira2501 wrote:
         | It's parsimonious of me, but "hacker" includes the idea of
         | "pushing hardware into uses not intended by the manufacturer."
         | 
         | This is an API that's being straight-up handed to you by the
         | manufacturer, a manufacturer that historically has had a
         | challenged relationship with the various hacker communities
         | that have formed around their products.
        
           | potatochup wrote:
           | Do you really think this was originally a planned feature by
           | Tesla? That some cynical marketing manager sat down ans
           | though "if we do this we'll get X impressions leading to Y
           | new sales, lets allocate 0.7FTE engineers to the task"?
           | 
           | I very much doubt the design requirement for the Model X
           | include a specification for "muat be able to produce
           | Christmas shows". This sure looks like some engineer had a
           | spurt of creativity, which qualifies to "hacking" to me.
        
         | typon wrote:
         | If this was a jailbreak to control the lights, people would be
         | a lot more excited. Tesla closes off their hardware to hackers
         | - not exactly the spirit of hacker news
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | lostlogin wrote:
         | If Ford made the lights on some cars flash, would it be a mega
         | corp trying to go viral, or the hacker spirit alive and well?
         | 
         | I like it, the the cynical angle has some merit.
        
           | potatochup wrote:
           | Is it not possible for an individual engineer within Ford to
           | have some creativity? To hack on something they weren't
           | supposed to? Not every output from a company is top-down,
           | corporate-overload, profit maximizing.
        
           | gfodor wrote:
           | There is an awesome GitHub repo with lots of cool stuff to
           | hack on for Christmas on millions of electric cars. This is
           | about as hacker worthy as it gets.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | gamblor956 wrote:
       | Note to Tesla owners: as this modifies the functionality of the
       | headlamps and rear lights, your car is not street legal at night
       | while using this code and you will get ticketed if you use this
       | while driving.
        
         | easton wrote:
         | I'm guessing the prompt to get out of the car means it won't go
         | while the show is running.
        
         | jedberg wrote:
         | It only works when the car is stopped and the driver is
         | outside.
        
       | Illniyar wrote:
       | What a wonderful idea. Let me just plug code from some random guy
       | from the internet into my car.
       | 
       | I'm sure this feature has no exploitable bugs and was not rushed
       | to meet the holiday deadline so it's super secure and safe.
        
         | RL_Quine wrote:
         | I mean, of all things this is pretty tame, the car otherwise
         | includes a web browser which contains parser for every single
         | file type you can imagine.
         | 
         | https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/blob/master/docs/FSEQ...
         | 
         | This is the format being used by the system, which is not new
         | and appears to be part of a maintained open source project.
        
           | bdcravens wrote:
           | You could say the same thing about running random bash
           | scripts on your computer, since it too has a browser.
        
         | pmorici wrote:
         | That is the official Tesla GitHub you are supposed to make your
         | own code to plug in
        
           | Illniyar wrote:
           | That's the problem. You really should not have your car
           | manufacturer suggesting it's okay to put some random guy's
           | USB stick in your car. If it was just some guy making a hack,
           | that'll be awesome ,but since it's official it inherently
           | implies it's safe to do it. Even if Tesla intended it to be
           | only for self use.
        
         | renewiltord wrote:
         | You're supposed to read the code, my dude. This is a hacker
         | forum.
        
           | jeroenhd wrote:
           | What code, though? The repo contains a validation script and
           | some resources and templates for a third party program.
           | There's not a lot of code to read.
        
             | renewiltord wrote:
             | It's your responsibility to do due diligence for the code
             | you're going to run. Don't run it if you're not capable of
             | doing that due diligence.
        
         | tailspin2019 wrote:
         | Just wait until USB drives with "custom Tesla light shows"
         | start turning up on eBay!
         | 
         | "we have super convenience for you pleasure, simply you plug
         | into car and agree security waning messaage on screen for
         | custom lite show fun for you and friends!!!"
        
         | erulabs wrote:
         | I mean, it is called _Hacker_ news. Not to be flippant, but if
         | you want trusted, known, secure, official, warranty-backed
         | behavior, you might go read like, CNET or something instead?
        
       | t8e56vd4ih wrote:
       | finally something Tesla is good for and nobody is in danger
        
       | petarb wrote:
       | Would love to see what people come up with
        
       | vmception wrote:
       | Would love to see a video or animated gif example!
        
       | bhauer wrote:
       | Now we just need a marketplace/forum for sharing custom .fseq
       | files.
        
         | toomuchtodo wrote:
         | A GitHub repo? awesome- type list [1].
         | 
         | [1] https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome
        
       | yellow_lead wrote:
       | This seems like a lot of work for a marketing stunt
        
         | judge2020 wrote:
         | It's been a thing for a while on the X, they've just opened it
         | up to running custom scripts from a USB. I'm sure it's
         | generated thousands of sales for them at this point.
         | 
         | The X light show: https://youtu.be/-jyPkg0yXzM?t=6
        
         | winternett wrote:
         | People have been doing that with Honda Civics for decades...
         | Now if they put all that energy into build quality and making
         | sure that auto pilot doesn't kill anyone, we'd have something
         | impressive... :/
        
         | joezydeco wrote:
         | If it creates an endless stream of YouTube videos featuring
         | Tesla cars, all for free after this point mind you, it seems
         | like a win to me.
        
       | comeonseriously wrote:
       | Is this legal? Seems a great way to distract other drivers.
        
         | corndoge wrote:
         | I can think of a bunch of scenarios where that concern doesn't
         | apply, and so can you.
        
           | comeonseriously wrote:
           | Of course, but I am positive plenty of "look at me" types
           | will drive around with it[0]. And I'm sure you know that,
           | too.
           | 
           | [0] If possible. I don't see where they explicitly say you
           | can't.
        
             | Faaak wrote:
             | The light show doesn't engage while driving, so no.
        
         | jedberg wrote:
         | It only works when the car is stopped and the driver is
         | outside.
        
       | lastofthemojito wrote:
       | >Supported Vehicles
       | 
       | > Model S (2021+)
       | 
       | > Model X (2021+)
       | 
       | > Model 3
       | 
       | > Model Y
       | 
       | Someone didn't get the memo from Elon that proper
       | Teslexicographical sorting is S, 3, X, Y.
        
         | winternett wrote:
         | There's a workaround... Just manually flip the high beams,
         | shift through drive modes, vigorously alternate turn
         | indicators, and pump your brakes furiously.
        
         | mciancia wrote:
         | Fixed now xD
        
       | velmu wrote:
       | Is this Full Self Driving?
        
       | zaroth wrote:
       | Amazing to read through that repo and then come to realize that's
       | not some reverse engineered hacker project, but actually a
       | trillion dollar car company publishing that on their own GitHub
       | page. Very cool.
        
         | la6471 wrote:
         | Don't do it while driving
        
         | unbanned wrote:
         | This is not very cool. This is a tremendous waste of resource
         | and yet more stuff that is added to the Tesla ecosystem which
         | inevitably will go wrong.
        
           | Agent766 wrote:
           | This was probably used internally to develop the built in
           | light show, so open sourcing it wouldn't take much work and
           | could generate some new PR buzz.
        
           | groone wrote:
           | Waste of resources is how other car companies get attention
           | of potential customers.
        
           | halfmatthalfcat wrote:
           | Oh lighten up...Tesla is pumping out a ton of value already.
        
           | razemio wrote:
           | I can't stand this attitude of yours. Not everything needs to
           | be efficient, has to have a goal, make money or make sense.
           | Have fun for once and put that capitalism brain aside for
           | just 2 seconds.
        
             | unbanned wrote:
             | You don't have to. Just collapse the comment and move on.
        
           | servercobra wrote:
           | It's a good marketing stunt for a company that doesn't have
           | traditional PR/marketing. And curious how some pre-recorded
           | flashing lights and opening hatches will inevitably "go
           | wrong".
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | vmception wrote:
           | Tesla has 70,000 fulltime employees and this repo has 2
           | contributors.
           | 
           | It is impossible for this to be a tremendous waste of
           | resources even if this was the only thing those employees did
           | for the company. Its a rounding error.
        
           | mensetmanusman wrote:
           | Adding some joy to the world is not necessary a waste of
           | resources.
        
             | hutzlibu wrote:
             | I very much agree, but I still would like to add, that not
             | everyone enjoys light pollution ...
        
               | MattRix wrote:
               | what does light pollution have to do with any of this?
        
               | hutzlibu wrote:
               | Blinking lights are a joy for many on christmas, for
               | others, it is merely annoying light pollution.
        
               | hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
        
               | shepherdjerred wrote:
               | What percentage of the world's light pollution do you
               | suppose will come from this feature?
        
       | Gys wrote:
       | No video :-(
        
         | solarkraft wrote:
         | Here's a video of the pre-loaded light show on the Model X:
         | https://youtu.be/Xg_0NRi-OxE
        
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       (page generated 2021-12-24 23:00 UTC)