Mercedes Can Now Update Car Software Remotely 228
MatthewVD writes "Our cars run millions of lines of code that need constant and, often, critical updates. Jim Motavalli writes that Mercedes-Benz's new mbrace2 'cloud infotainment system' has a secret capability: it can update software automatically and wirelessly. In a process called 'reflashing,' the Mercedes system turns on the car operating system (CU), downloads the new application, then cuts itself off. With companies like Fisker paying dearly for constant recalls for software problems, automakers will likely rush to embrace this technology. No more USBs in the dashboard!"
Secret capability? (Score:5, Informative)
Remote Vehicle Diagnostics Beyond allowing you to perform a check of your vehicle's main systems remotely, mbrace2 technology can automatically alert both you and your authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer to potential issues before they become full-fledged problems. In addition, it enables your vehicle to receive software updates wirelessly through the mbrace2 network.
So while maybe undesirable, not sure it's 'secret'.
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From the Mercedes site:
Remote Vehicle Diagnostics Beyond allowing you to perform a check of your vehicle's main systems remotely, mbrace2 technology can automatically alert both you and your authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer to potential issues before they become full-fledged problems...
Translation:
Beyond allowing you to perform a check of your vehicle's main systems remotely, mbrace2 technology can automatically make shit up about your car that is bad or potentially going bad, and before you even have a chance to think about the cost of the repair, they've already scheduled you for "maintenance" and charged your bank account for the appropriate deposit to order many, many "bad parts"...
Ah, such efficiency...and to think, I used to have to go through all that stress of having to decide abo
Re:Secret capability? (Score:5, Insightful)
If this were not the manufacturer of the car doing this, I might have thought the same thing you are thinking. But if people begin to get troubled with too much recommended maintenance, they will start to believe their cars are unreliable and will not buy another one... or at least not one that tells them things they don't want to know.
Re:Secret capability? (Score:4, Insightful)
If this were not the manufacturer of the car doing this, I might have thought the same thing you are thinking. But if people begin to get troubled with too much recommended maintenance, they will start to believe their cars are unreliable and will not buy another one... or at least not one that tells them things they don't want to know.
Are you paying for "reliability" or "Government-regulated mandatory safety upgrades"?
"Repairs" can be spun many, many different ways...such as the difference between optional and mandatory types of insurance. People hate paying for either type of insurance, but don't see much of a choice when it's "mandatory". A "cost" turns into a "fee" if EVERY car owner is charged for it, so this is yet another vehicle to mandate mass fees, turning profits through "safety standards"(for both the auto industry and Government). But you somehow feel better about it, because your 37 air bags are all up to date with the latest software patch and ready to protect you (not that they didn't before).
Oh and your insurance company feels better too, because they got a piece of the profits as well by mandating that no car will be insured without an "active maintenance subscription". Oh yeah, you'll need auto anti-virus protection too.
(I mean seriously, what do you think auto and insurance lobbyists do all day?)
Re:Secret capability? (Score:5, Insightful)
Given that most new cars have a period of maintenance factored in where the owner does not pay for warranty work (often 5 years), any warranty work performed like software updates simply come right off the companies bottom lin.e It only makes good business sense to make this as inexpensive as possible and if they can do updates remotely without actually going into the dealer then this is a huge cost savings for them and far more convenient to the owner.
Also, given how much of the safety systems on these high end Mercedes are under software control, I wouldn't be surprised if the lawyers are warning the company that if they do not do due diligence in rolling out safety related upgrades, then they may be liable for crashes related to the failing of this software. In such a case making sure the software updates are rolled out to as many people as possible as easily as possible would be a mandate of theirs.
Re:on the fly (Score:3)
Sure, you pinpointed one of the really eerie parts of this.
Let's even say it's not hackers, can you imagine if the company itself messed up its update, even just on the install? You're going 65 miles down the road, then the car freezes for two seconds while the update installs?!
Yeesh.
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I wish I had your faith in my fellow human beings, but most people do not seem to care about reliablity when they purchase their cars. Mercedes is one of the more unreliable brands on the market and they are still managing to sell plenty of cars. Even worse, look at Dodge/Chrysler, unlike Mercedes, they have always had a reputation for poor reliability and they are still managing to stay alive.
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They don't have to worry. They will get bailed out by Washington any time they need it. They are "too big to fail". Have been for a rather long while now.
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Repeat after me:
Infrastructure items should not auto-update, the potential for something bad is too big. Imagine one Ooopsy bricking every Mercedes, not so bad right? Now picture every Toyota, or Ford.
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Translation:
Beyond allowing you to perform a check of your vehicle's main systems remotely, mbrace2 technology can automatically make shit up about your car that is bad or potentially going bad, and before you even have a chance to think about the cost of the repair, they've already scheduled you for "maintenance" and charged your bank account for the appropriate deposit to order many, many "bad parts"...
Yep. No BMW mechanic would ever be able to figure out it was all lies and leak his findings to the press.
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in the USA we have these things called car warranties, so its the manufacturer paying for all these parts and services to the dealer.
there are two types of MB drivers. those who can really afford the car, and those who can't and just lease. I had a neighbor one time like that. renter, nothing to his name and yet he had enough money to pay $600 a month of a CK500 or whatever it was. until he got his girlfriend preggers and got rid of the car
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Haha what a douche! He totally had something he enjoyed but was a poor financial choice, and then when the time came to be responsible he got rid of it for a (presumably) more sensible ride! What a loser!
Also, lease? Eeeeew! Can you believe somebody would choose to pay less on a monthly basis when they don't plan to keep the car past the lease duration instead of paying more and then going through the risk and hassle of selling it? Man! I'm so much smarter being upside-down and paying gap insurance on my ze
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Ever heard of "hyperlinks" [wikipedia.org] Sherlock?
aka
Citation needed
Ever heard of "getting off your lazy fucking ass" [google.com], Sherlock?
But since you've already proved yourself to be mentally challenged, I'll save you the "trouble" [mercedesbe...rgblog.com].
What a revolution (Score:4, Funny)
Mercedes is now able to crash cars remotely.
Many possibilities (Score:5, Insightful)
This also means that hackers and government agencies can update the software automatically and wirelessly. Finally there is no more need for cutting the break cables.
Re:Many possibilities (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Many possibilities (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm willing to bet it's far more likely that they'll need to patch security holes remotely than it is for the update mechanism itself to be exploited. That is, assuming they digitally sign the updates.
So? Even a 1000:1 ratio would be unacceptable.
And if a lesson were to be learned from Playstation / XBox / DVD / Blu-Ray / iPhone, it's that as long as customers (and thus hackers) have access to the hardware, keeping things secret is a temporary reprieve at best.
Re:Many possibilities (Score:5, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
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Ah the PS3 has had so many custom firmwares written for it that they have to cycle the firmware versions just to break the older firmware.
What Version 4.11 or something of the such now ? Not to mention that people have learned to sign their own packages for it ? Guessing you have not done a basic web search for security info eh.... to much to expect I suppose ?
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Knowing how little most corporations know or care about security I wouldn't be so sure. Wireless car keys, for example, can already be hacked.
Re:Many possibilities (Score:4, Insightful)
I am tired of this standard banal instantly modded up response:
- Something is made easier
- Aha! Government all other evil guys will have easy access too!
Duh!
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My owner's manual says it's a parking brake. And I wouldn't want to rely on a small button saying 'p' as a last resort in case of emergency.
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So you'd rather have nothing as a last resort in case of emergency? Because if you discount the emergency/parking brake, that's what you have.
Or maybe you're saying it should be a great big lever painted in yellow and black stripes with rotating red lights, sirens, and steam. If that's the case I agree, that's an emergency brake.
Me? In an emergency, I'll grab whatever the hell is around to slow me down, and I don't give a damn it's called, I'll just be grateful to have a redundant system.
Re:Many possibilities (Score:4, Informative)
Go ahead and try it next time you're cruising along. No, seriously. At best you'll get bad smell from the mechanism. It won't slow you down worth a damn.
While you're at it: Try stomping on the brakes when nobody else is around, just to see what happens. That way you'll know what to expect in a bad situation.
Stuff like this is called "learning to drive".
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I know what happens. You slow down. I've also been in the car while somebody pulled the e-brake on dry pavement at 50 mph while turning the wheel. Queue dramatic screeching and a perfect 180. (he's an excellent stunt driver (very different from an excellent driver in general, which means safe, although his driving record of zero accidents over a 15-year career attests that he's that too, or at least lucky) but it still scared the shit out of me). If your e-brake doesn't slow you down, you have a broken emer
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it will slow you down a LOT faster than just trying to engine brake.
Have you actually tried it in an emergency at highway speeds? I have. I assure you you'll have time to pray to several dozen deities before it actually stops the car.
Re:Many possibilities (Score:4, Funny)
It's not a parking brake, never was. It's an emergency brake. I bet most people in the U.S. never bother setting it when the car is parked, heck, many of them I'm sure wouldn't know where it is or how to use it in an emergency. There's a "P" setting on the shifter, that's good enough :/
Oddly enough, the laws of inertia still exist in the Western Hemisphere, even including the United States!
(I hear there are hills too...)
Re:Many possibilities (Score:4, Insightful)
We ignore laws here... especially the government.
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It's both. It's a parking brake, in that it holds the car on a hill, and it's an emergency brake, in that it will give you maybe one stop from high speed if you apply it alone.
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It's not a parking brake, never was. It's an emergency brake.
You know how I know you've never tried pulling that handle when the car is moving?
Me? I'd expect an 'emergency brake' to be a bit more effective then that...
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It's the emergency make the car smell bad lever.
Re:Many possibilities (Score:5, Informative)
I know I'm feeding the trolls but:
It's not a parking brake, never was. It's an emergency brake.
If you have a stick shift (aka manual or standard) transmission, the emergency/parking brake lever is what you use to park your vehicle and as a backup mechanical brake if for some reason your normal hydraulic brakes completely fail. So yes it is a parking brake in addition to being a last resort mechanical brake. They are still present on all(?) automatic cars as a safety feature. Before the parking pawl it was the only way to park your vehicle so it has and always will be an emergency/parking brake. After a while it became commonplace to just call it a parking brake, maybe the word "emergency" made people feel uncomfortable. Who knows.
When automatic transmissions first came around, the "parking pawl" was not always present so a lever or handle was necessary to mechanically lock the vehicles brakes to prevent it from rolling, like a manual. Then the parking pawl was standardized (in the US around 1965) to give drivers a more safe and reliable parking mechanism. It can not be used as a brake mechanism, its a gear like ring on a splined shaft which when engaged, slides into a grooved recess of the transmission case. This locks the output shaft which in turn locks the entire drive line. Engaging that at highway speeds would mean catastrophic transmission and/or drive line failure.
I bet most people in the U.S. never bother setting it when the car is parked, heck, many of them I'm sure wouldn't know where it is or how to use it in an emergency. There's a "P" setting on the shifter, that's good enough :/
What was the point of making that statement? To be a snobby jerk off and put down Americans when ever you can? Is it fashionable where you come from? The parking pawl is more reliable than a mechanical cable activated parking brake. One the ring locks the drive shaft it is not rolling anywhere. A cable actuated emergency/parking brake can come out of adjustment and also suffer from a failed cable. It is not necessary to use on an automatic. I happen to use it on hills as a backup to prevent the weight of the vehicle from binding the parking pawl.
And an example: I purchased a forklift that weighed 8000 lbs. I hauled it on a 3000lb trailer and towed it with a ~6000 lb automatic vehicle. All together it weighed around 17,000 pounds or 7,700 kg. I stopped at a friends house and decided to stay the night, problem was his house was on a hill and I could not fit the rig into his driveway. I set the parking brake and tested to see if it would hold, it didn't. 7700kg on a steep hill was just too much for it, it crept forward little by little. I put the automatic transmission in park and it held perfectly.
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This locks the output shaft which in turn locks the entire drive line. Engaging that at highway speeds would mean catastrophic transmission and/or drive line failure.
Actually engaging it while in motion means catastrophic parking pawl failure. I've actually had this happen to me when slamming on the brake to avoid an accident in the making up ahead. A heavy metal pole in my car flew forward and jammed the transmission into park while doing about 60. End result is the little safety pin which requires you to press the button before changing between drive and reverse, and by extension into park is broken (yay quickshift), and I am now fully reliant on the parking brake whe
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Before the parking pawl it was the only way to park your vehicle
Just put it in gear when you park. No brake needed.
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That is only useful for parking on a reasonably level surface. There was a time when big trucks had all mechanical diesel engines and drivers would practice this. And I have heard of more than a few trucks mysteriously starting themselves up and running away. Turns out the drivers never set any mechanical brake, did not leave the engine stop lever in the stop position (which cuts fuel) and parked on a slight incline or hill. The trucks weight would overcome the friction of the drive line, begin to roll and
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Know whats even more scary?
Back in the early days of trucking, there were no spring brakes or maxi brakes. So if you parked a loaded tractor trailer on a hill the only thing keeping it from rolling was the "drum in hat" style parking brake on the transmission or carrier (differential). It was nothing more than a drum brake that was mounted to the drive shaft. and they held around 80,000 pounds (36,000kg) on a hill IF they were adjusted properly. Those guys carried and used chocks.
You still find those parkin
What could possibly go wrong (Score:4, Funny)
I was going to say something, but I can't think of anything clever, because I'm shaking my head in disbelief so fast that I'm getting dizzy. Please tell me that the wireless interface at least has its own fuse that can be pulled.
Re:What could possibly go wrong (Score:5, Funny)
Please tell me that the wireless interface at least has its own fuse that can be pulled.
On behalf of our R&D dept in East Europe and Russia, I can state that we don't know it ... yet. And, unless you aren't a Mercedes owner, we are not going to inform you.
If, however, you own this model, just tell us where it is parked and we'll let you know (if a fuse can be pulled, it's likely we can replace it with absolutely no troubles for your, while you're asleep).
Raising my black hat, I send you my best wishes and hopes of a successful ...(ummm... how to put it?... ah, yes...) collaboration,
(non-readable signature in 133t-sp34k)
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In East Europe or Russia, owning ... ok, having a Mercedes should not be an issue. Europe's full of them, just take one.
what could possibly go wrong (Score:5, Interesting)
Soon:
- First maleware for cars spotted in the wild. Car manufacturers: "No problem. it only infects the multimedia system"
- Maleware displays a huge kitty on the HUD. First malware caused traffic accident with casualties.
- Anti-Virus Software mandatory for cars
- Kaspersky/McAffee/.. : ~40% of all cars infected with one virus or another....
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Just wait how interesting it can become once cars can also communicate with each other. Think of the possibilities... I could cause a car crash without even leaving the house!
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Re:what could possibly go wrong (Score:5, Funny)
Soon: - First maleware for cars spotted in the wild. Car manufacturers: "No problem. it only infects the multimedia system" - Maleware displays a huge kitty on the HUD. First malware caused traffic accident with casualties.
I think auto manufacturers are waking up to the fact that women buy cars too.
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Is this due to the maleware or the kitty?
Virus scan on Cars (Score:5, Funny)
Soon: - First maleware for cars spotted in the wild. Car manufacturers: "No problem. it only infects the multimedia system" - Maleware displays a huge kitty on the HUD. First malware caused traffic accident with casualties. - Anti-Virus Software mandatory for cars - Kaspersky/McAffee/.. : ~40% of all cars infected with one virus or another....
Great, so now my car's only gonna go 15 mph because McAffee is using 90% of my engine resources.
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On the bright side (for the manufacturer), planned obsolescence is easier once you can update a the car's OS seamlessly.
Yes, and as soon as your cars software is "no longer supported", planned obsolescence also kicks in forcing you to buy a new car, most likely prematurely.
Oh, you didn't like the word "forcing"? I'm sorry. New auto insurance law. "No vehicle will be allowed to be licensed or insured that has been deemed obsolete by the manufacturer or [insert next-gen DHS-style Government regulatory agency here]"
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Incoming exploit in 3..2..1... (Score:2)
Well Mercedes are a favourate of bankers (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Well Mercedes are a favourate of bankers (Score:4, Interesting)
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In many areas of massachusetts, speed limits are not set at the speeds the roads were designed for/are safe to operate at, but at revenue generating levels - speeds at which police officers on speed patrol can spend their whole day writing tickets.
Enforcement is still lax, though, because if enforcement was efficient, people would drive at the lower levels to avoid it. Effectively, mass does not have speed limits. It has a "random road tax."
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Speed limiter to 20mph? Try cruise control stuck at 200mph, now here's funny for you!
Maybe in the US (Score:3)
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Yeah, the guys driving a Mercedes truck are certainly not upper-class.
Re:Well Mercedes are a favourate of bankers (Score:5, Funny)
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It will be "unhackable" when the community gets their hands on it and takes the keys away from the manufacturing overlords. The incentive flows in the other direction otherwise.
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Who pays? (Score:2)
I'm assuming the car connects to some sort of 3g or other wireless network to download updates.
Who pays for this?
Re:Who pays? (Score:5, Informative)
mercedes.
or in other words - the guy who buys the car. if you could hack that data connection to contact whatever else sites though.. I'm assuming it would do it via 3g actually too. it wouldn't be too hard for mercedes to negotiate europe wide contracts for it for fairly cheap(the data amounts will be rather low). so it might be something like 200 bucks for 3 years of updates, which considering the total cost of the car isn't really that much. if it can prevent one recall for a model that would otherwise need the dealer to do "free" work billed to mb then from mb's viewpoint it's a good deal.
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If money is an issue, you obviously should not own a Mercedes.
Ok , but what happens if... (Score:2, Interesting)
... the car decides to download and install new firmware at the exact same time as Mick Mechanic pulls the battery or the main fuse out? A very VERY expensive brick?
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You realize that "Mick Mechanic" isn't going to be working on that car, because it comes with an all-encompasing service plan, right?
The only guys turning wrenches on that car are employed at the Benz dealership; and it likely doesn't start any update until after 10 minutes of ECU inactivity - plenty of time to raise the hood and disconnect the negative battery terminal.
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The only guys turning wrenches on that car are employed at the Benz dealership; and it likely doesn't start any update until after 10 minutes of ECU inactivity - plenty of time to raise the hood and disconnect the negative battery terminal.
No, because people are most likely to not have signal where they stop the car. The download therefore likely goes on whenever, and the PCM will switch to the new firmware image when appropriate.
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well you can put at very least put fall back code in a EPROM that can download and install a update. (Does not need to be the full code)
Sometimes, It's Good To Be Old-School (Score:5, Funny)
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Maybe they will automatically send a guy in coveralls out to replace your TCM or EGR amplifier, via a scheduling system. That's automatic, right?
Turn on the CU? (Score:4, Interesting)
"In a process called ‘reflashing,’ the Mercedes system can turn on the car operating system (CU), download the new application, then cut itself off."
So the car is regularly polling a server and can switch itself on? That sounds decidedly unsettling.
Could somebody elaborate on the diagnostic capabilities of these cars? Do they alert you if your brakes are inefficient or if your tyres are wearing out? I'm too poor to afford one to know :(
Cheers.
Re:Turn on the CU? (Score:4, Insightful)
If it works like the iDrive system in BMW, the ECU stays active for about 10 minutes after the car is turned off, in order to remember navigation position and the creature comfort stuff like heated seats being turned on. Mercedes is likely putting this update check in after such an interval.
As for the brake and tire wear checking, that's done by a Mark-I eyeball installed in a service technician at the dealership, which is included in the service plan that comes with the car.
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Could somebody elaborate on the diagnostic capabilities of these cars? Do they alert you if your brakes are inefficient or if your tyres are wearing out? I'm too poor to afford one to know :(
I predict that they will, indeed, monitor a lot of variables that, if not warrants, at least suggests maintenance. And that the data will be sold to marketers who can compete for the chance to market new synthetic oil to you starting a thousand miles before the suggested oil change, or new tires when the ones you have approach their life.
The scariest thing is that a lot of consumers would like this, and will think that the discounted offers and presented "options" will save them money and is a useful servi
Transparent upgrades - yeah, right (Score:2)
If Mercedes has cracked the trick of 100% successful upgrades over air, great! If not, I'd prefer to know that the systems controlling almost everything on the Mercedes hurtling towards me is not going to die at some arbitrary moment. Bricked iPhones are inconvenient. Bricked 2-ton vehicles moving at 70mph are very inconvenient!
Re:Transparent upgrades - yeah, right (Score:4, Funny)
Remember how you could always spot a Microsoft "Patch Tuesday" when you got to work and found all the desktop machines had rebooted overnight?
Spotting Mercedes Patch Tuesday on the autobahn is going to be epic.
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If Mercedes has cracked the trick of 100% successful upgrades over air, great! If not, I'd prefer to know that the systems controlling almost everything on the Mercedes hurtling towards me is not going to die at some arbitrary moment. Bricked iPhones are inconvenient. Bricked 2-ton vehicles moving at 70mph are very inconvenient!
No, MB has figured out how to avoid paying dealers to reflash cars for critical updates by bypassing the dealer. The dealer also gets to spend time on out of warranty repairs that actually make them money instead of spending valuable mechanic time own low reimbursement warranty work.
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They have the advantage that every PCM is identical, probably not even multiple revisions. They contract for a certain number of them to be produced and their contractees contract for a number of identical parts to produce them with. So it's actually feasible for them to do some fairly comprehensive testing. Further, if they don't activate the new firmware until you shut off the vehicle, then there's no risk of it dying while rolling. And if the Mercedes doesn't start when you try, well, that will hardly ra
Best scenario... (Score:5, Funny)
Tracking ? (Score:2)
Avi Rubin hacking cars. TED.com (Score:4, Interesting)
Hacking cars has already been done, and is shown here in this ted.com video. 4:42 is where he explains about it.
http://www.ted.com/talks/avi_rubin_all_your_devices_can_be_hacked.html [ted.com]
Many of the internal systems was hacked, including the system for breaking.
From ted.com:
"Could someone hack your pacemaker? At TEDxMidAtlantic, Avi Rubin explains how hackers are compromising cars, smartphones and medical devices, and warns us about the dangers of an increasingly hack-able world.
Avi Rubin is a professor of computer science and director of Health and Medical Security Lab at Johns Hopkins University. His current research is focused on the security of electronic medical records"
No thanks (Score:2)
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Now there's a good idea...NOT! (Score:2)
There are a lot of people out there looking to do something malicious to others, so here's the perfect way to open the door to secretly messing with Mercedes owners. Just get a small transmitter used to emulate the official server, get it close to a Mercedes, and now push an update that KILLS the car. No fix until it gets back to a dealership where the chip can be replaced with one that isn't borked.
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Just get a small transmitter used to emulate the official server,
When someone says "Just" or "all you have to do" they prove that they have no idea what they are talking about or how to do it.
No fix until it gets back to a dealership where the chip can be replaced with one that isn't borked.
Actually, it'll be no fix until the PCM is sent back to the rebuilder who will JTAG (or equivalent) flash it. Nobody is going to be desoldering flash chips because you reflashed a PCM.
What is this "reflashing" you speak of? (Score:2)
Why quote the word? It's a common English word these days, especially amongst nerds reading slashdot.
What about modded cars? (Score:2)
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All the more reason to go open source ECU. I used to own Mercedes- for twenty years in fact but no more- they have become unreliable POS. I now drive a Subaru which in fact has a fully-flashed open source ECU. Both the car and the tools are under the communities control- not MBs or Subarus.
I hope it only updates while the car is stationary (Score:2)
The las thibg Michael Shumacher needs is to be approaching a corner at 150mph and the car decides to update the brake control software.
and so (Score:2)
And so... It has come to this.
what about roaming? (Score:2)
As you can in a border area pick up a NON US tower and face data fees that can hit highs of $20 a MEG. Now how will be stuck with that bill?
Also you can be driving in canada and will the car stop trying to update it self or just auto do it with a very hidden menu to trun it off.
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As you can in a border area pick up a NON US tower and face data fees that can hit highs of $20 a MEG. Now how will be stuck with that bill?
Nobody; it just won't connect to those towers at all. Nobody is expecting you to drive your Mercedes into Mexico and anyone on the border is a corner case that can be ignored, they can go to the dealer and get flashed through the scan tool as has been done since time immemorial. Or indeed, they could reflash you with a picocell so that if there is a problem you're already at the dealer. They can loan you a car if your car doesn't start.
Also you can be driving in canada and will the car stop trying to update it self or just auto do it with a very hidden menu to trun it off.
The car probably won't switch to the new code until you cycle the igniti
Following Tesla's lead (Score:2)
An additional benefit of Roadster ownership made possible by firmware is Tesla’s ability to diagnose a car’s operations remotely. If an owner feels something has gone wrong with their car, remote diagnosis enables the Tesla Rangers to determine the issue and a solution without direct access to the car.
The Roadster firmware contains a system that allows the car to “talk” to headquarters if the customer chooses. In the situations where customers have opted-in, t
Such paranoia and false attribution here. (Score:2)
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How long until all police cars will be fited with programs that uploads a breaks-is-always-on update?
You're about 12 years too late.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/hacker-bricks-cars/ [wired.com]
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Are you saying this is the year 2022??? Crap! I'm really, really, really late for a lot of stuff!!
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Are you saying this is the year 2022??? Crap! I'm really, really, really late for a lot of stuff!!
Since this is /. and it's too much to hope for someone skimming through AFA, let me quote from it:
"First rolled out about 10 years ago, remote immobilization systems are a controversial answer to delinquent car payments [...]"
So 2010, when the article was written, minus 10 years brings us to 2000, which makes the GGP late by around 12 years.
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I second that. All I can say is I'm glad it is not HP executing this plan.
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Because obviously they wouldn't do it when the car is parked or anything. No of course they'll just update the software while the car is in motion because they are morons.
Actually maybe someone else is the moron here.