Why a hacker is giving away a special code that turns cars into selfdriving machines

Here is a strategy for start-ups dealing with regulators who might shut down your product: Make it free.
Scrappy self-driving-car start-up Comma.ai released a free software kit on Wednesday to help developers learn to
build a device that can turn any car into an autonomous vehicle. The year-old company, which was founded by a wellknown hacker and backed by prominent Silicon Valley investors, hopes to accelerate the development of self-driving
cars while skirting the ire of Washington.
The move raises questions of how the United States should foster innovation for promising technologies that also carry
great risks. Experts say self-driving cars have the potential to dramatically reduce the number of accidents on the
roadway, most of which are caused by human errors. But Commas self-driving kit has logged only roughly 5,000 miles
of road time, a number that is effectively a useless barometer for judging safety, said John Simpson, of the safety
advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.
The announcement also reflects the types of maneuvering start-ups are increasingly engaging in as they chart a path in
heavily regulated sectors of the economy. Companies in areas such as housing, DNA testing and aerospace are weighing
whether to work with officials or to follow the playbook of Uber and Airbnb asking forgiveness, but not permission,
and seeing where the chips fall.
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

In Commas case, the strategy was an end run around the rulemakers.
When Comma.ais founder, George Hotz, announced his plan to sell a do-it-yourself self-driving software and hardware
kit for $999 at a large industry conference this fall, the tech world was giddy with excitement. While large automakers
and technology giants have poured billions into autonomous vehicles, Commas tech would have dramatically lowered
the bar for entry.
Washington was skeptical: Shortly after the announcement at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference, Hotz received a
warning letter from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Hotz who was the first person to jailbreak
an iPhone and whose hacking capabilities earned him a New Yorker profile and an offer from Elon Musk to build Teslas
automated systems tweeted out the letter. It asked for detailed information about the safety of the product he said
he intended to launch before the end of the year.

Within hours of getting the letter, Hotz canceled the product launch. He didnt have the money to hire lawyers required
to get government approval, he said in an interview with The Washington Post this week. Hotz added he had been
receiving unnerving, unsolicited house calls from California officials, who stopped by to review what he was building.
He decided that a workaround would be to offer up the code to his kit for free.
We want to be the Android operating system for self-driving cars, Hotz said at a news conference Wednesday, held in
the company's garage in San Franciscos Potrero Hill neighborhood. Hotz was referring to the open-source smartphone
operating system, which has become ubiquitous because it is free and developers can easily innovate on it.
The code, which is available on the open-source collaboration platform GitHub, allows anyone (but really, hardcore
hackers) to build a dashcam-like device that they can set up in their car. The device plugs into a port in the car called a
controller area network, or BUS (in most cars built after 2006). Users must build the device with a 3-D printer and
have an Android OnePlus 3 phone to run the code and provide the camera that can scan the road.
Technically, Hotzs software isnt a fully autonomous car such as the ones being tested by Google or GM. Hotz says it is
an open-source alternative to Tesla's autopilot, which is considered semi-autonomous. When a user switches it on, the
car goes into autopilot mode, enabling the driver to take their hands off the wheel and the gas pedal. The car can also
stay in its lane and brake for the driver. Currently, the software works only with some Hondas and Acuras.
For safety, Hotz said his self-driving software is designed to shut down and decelerate the vehicle after six minutes if
the driver doesnt actively keep it on.
Because NHTSA regulates commercial vehicles, Hotz said he is exempt from regulatory scrutiny because he is not
selling anything.
NHTSA spokesman Bryan Thomas said the agency had no comment.

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

Simpson, the Consumer Watchdog advocate, said he was skeptical of Hotzs regulatory hack. He said that NHTSA has
the authority to pull any car off the road that has features that make it an imminent danger, and that the agency has
the authority to review free add-on features to cars. Comma is a clear threat to highway safety, and attempting to
release it like this is absolutely outrageous, he said. NHTSA and the California DMV should act now to keep vehicles
equipped with Holtzs device off the highway.

He added that any driver who put this on their car could be breaking the law. Under California law, an autonomous
vehicle is not allowed on a public road without a permit that includes a $5 million insurance policy and a demonstrable
training program for drivers. Even though Hotz calls his innovation a self-driving kit, he argued his product is more
like Tesla's autopilot and is therefore exempt from self-driving regulations.
Hotz warned that the government should not attempt to shut down a tool that could save lives, and said that engineers
should be free to build products for the good of society. He also dismissed the possibility that open-sourcing the
technology could enable hackers to break into cars, saying cars were already so connected to the Internet that the risk
was present regardless.
Were not offering this as a consumer product, Hotz said. This is for tinkerers. These are people who, if they wanted
to do bad things, they already could.
Jabbing at bureaucrats everywhere, he opened his news conference playing the 90s hip-hop classic Regulate and
ended it with a lyric from the rapper Drake: Everyone who doubted me is asking for forgiveness. If you ain't been a
part of it, at least you got to witness.

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

Recommended by

The Alienware Area-51 is a

spaceship disguised as a gaming
PC

Use Data To Sell Your Home For

More

1 Fatal Mistake Every PC User

Makes Daily...

10 Best Rewards Cards With No

Annual Fee

10 Ways Trump as President Could How Tall Will Your Child Be?
Affect Your Money

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

converted by Web2PDFConvert.com