Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit
avodonosov | on: Unlocking any car from X brand in most of the world
These always connected cars will soon become as bad, or likely worse, than the smartphones of today, which we don't really own and control, and always tracked.

You will need an online account with obscure terms of service to use the car, won't be able to repair yourself, your data being sold, etc.

Evil.

lakeviewterrace | parent | next
Is there an online database for instructions on how to disconnect your car from the cloud?

I.e. a Wiki where you supply Make/Model/Year, receive instructions on which fuse to pull, which box to remove or disconnect.

Right now this information is so scattered across the web, disorganized, and full of errors. Sometimes buried in YouTube videos. Even LLMs cannot provide accurate info and you need to do laborious research.

Somebody make this happen.

jonesy827 | root | parent | next
Usually the most practical thing to do is to remove the antenna. The car just thinks it can't get a signal, instead of missing one of its radios if you unplugged the cellular module.
throw0101d | root | parent | next
> The car just thinks it can't get a signal, instead of missing one of its radios if you unplugged the cellular module.

I read comments that this may still not be ideal, as when you take it a dealer service (especially during the warranty period), all the collected data is cached locally and may eventually get uploaded to the proverbial mothership at that time. If you can/could tell it to stop collecting generally, then there's nothing to upload, antenna or not.

Not sure how valid this thinking is, but it is worth considering as a 'threat model'.

deltoidmaximus | root | parent
The seems to be recent proof that smart TVs actually do this caching. If a shitty TV from walmart does it you can safely bet it is implemented in your 50K car.
Melatonic | root | parent
Unless that also causes it to never enter sleep mode and keep searching for a signal and drain your battery
stefanfisk | root | parent
In a few years, new cars probably won’t pass inspection or be allowed insurance if their internet access is disabled and not fixed by an authorized technician in a timely manner.
Brybry | root | parent
Most US states don't have a safety inspection. [1]

The trend might even be moving away from some types of inspections.

For example, Louisiana recently did away with its annual inspection program for all non-commercial, non-school bus vehicles (except for some emissions testing in some locations due to federal clean air act). [2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_Unit...

[2] https://legiscan.com/LA/text/HB1085/2026

gambiting | root | parent
And in the UK you have to report every modification(including this one) to your insurer, or your insurance is null and void. The MOT(annual test) couldn't care any less about any of this or any modifications - as long as your car can pass a set of(very basic) tests, it's legal to use on the road.
miki123211 | parent | next
They already are worse.

Smartphone OS makers have top-notch security teams, and they are tech companies who understand how tech works extremely well. Actual Android smartphone makers (thing Samsung or Motorola) are humble enough to understand that they should just let Google do the hard parts of the OS.

Car makers are not tech (software / internet) companies, do not understand how to think about tech to be successful in tech, do not have the right mental models for cybersecurity work, but they nevertheless want to do their own software instead of getting it from a more responsible party. This is a recipe for disaster. And, just like smart TV makers, they make their money on hardware, compete on price, and aren't advertising companies themselves, which encourages shady deals with data brokers.

thereader12 | root | parent
Samsug definitely was (is) trying to slowly replace google. A lot of there stuff runs Tizen but yeah they now more about security than a car maker at least.
verisimi | parent
> will soon

You realise that in the EU cars have a SIM in, and an emergency button? This is since 2018, see: 112 eCall regulation.

avodonosov | root | parent | next
I do realise. That by itself is worrysome. But now car manufacturers tie legallly required functions like the enmergency buttons with bloated platforms of "convenience" functions that users can not disable completely.
numpad0 | root | parent | next
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I've read somewhere that it can be a SIM-less phone that abuses emergency call flow in 3GPP. GSM specs have special accomodations for 911/112 type calls that don't require a SIM(that sometimes ironically lead to normal calls working fine and just emergency calls failing).
miki123211 | root | parent | next
Yes, you don't (in most countries) need a SIM for 112/911, and even when you do have one, you are allowed to use other carriers for such calls, even when you ordinarily shouldn't be able to roam onto them.
tengwar2 | root | parent
The specs do have that, but I used to work at a major mobile telco which didn't implement that part of the spec. The argument was that people would use emergency calls to test phones without a SIM. That may well have changed, but you can't assume that the spec will always be implemented in the network.
kube-system | root | parent
Interesting, in the US this is a regulatory requirement and the decision is not up to the telco.
| root | parent
{"deleted":true,"id":50422704,"parent":50421948,"time":1794212908,"type":"comment"}