Last summer I bought a 2021 Hyundai Ioniq SEL. It is a nice fuel-efficient hybrid with a decent amount of features like wireless Android Auto/Apple CarPlay, wireless phone charging, heated seats, & a sunroof.
One thing I particularly liked about this vehicle was the In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) system. As I mentioned before it had wireless Android Auto which seemed to be uncommon in this price range, and it had pretty nice, smooth animations in its menus which told me the CPU/GPU in it wasn't completely underpowered, or at least the software it was running wasn't super bloated.
As with many new gadgets I get, I wanted to play around with it and ultimately see what I could do with it.
The IVI in the car, like many things these days, is just a computer. My goal was to hack the IVI to get root access and hopefully be able to run my own software on it. Of course, the first step in hacking a device like this is research.
Some of the obvious things that I looked up were:
- What is the device running?
- There are two versions of the IVI, the navigation one that runs Android, and a Linux based one.
- Has anyone else hacked this before?
- The Android based, navigation version is easy to hack by installing your own APKs through the engineering menu.
- The linux based one has not been hacked.
- Does the non-navigation IVI have an Engineering Mode?
I love developer settings and test apps. There is usually tons of fun to be had playing around with them. I thought I might even get lucky and it would have an option to enable an SSH server or the like.
This is one of those summaries that can never do the full article justice. The only option is to read the linked article - I found it well worth the read! [JR]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Saturday August 20 2022, @07:21PM (2 children)
This story has been paid for by: Hyundai
Hyundai: because you just said a bunch of bad things about infotardment systems and now we have to make them look good.
Hyundai: Remember, modifying things you own^H^H^Hrent from us is evil "hacking", but by letting this slide and publishing articles about it makes us look cool.
Hyundai: buy it, bitches.
Don't forget to download our FREE news app/malware, which requires the latest smartphone!
(I'd "hack" this thing by putting my fist through it. Smooth hypnotic animations are a good thing while driving? More seizures)
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday August 21 2022, @03:10AM
Well, I gotta admit instructions on the web on how to root a Motorola cellphone played a huge role in what phone I had much use for.
How many of us based our choice on peripherals on info on how to run it under Linux?
Hopefully, John Deere, gotcha ears on?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by MonkeypoxBugChaser on Sunday August 21 2022, @10:25PM
This kind of thing is non negotiable for my car. Especially when they try to cram in a cell modem or other transmitting radios.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2022, @07:43PM (1 child)
Per the recent thread on car touch panels, I'm waiting for a Bluetooth-connected panel that can be added to these systems. It holds knobs and buttons (with encoders/switches behind them) that can be programmed to perform the usual HVAC & radio functions--but on real knobs that rotate, and buttons that have travel & tactile-click.
If the manufacturers won't get smart and move the common controls off the touch screen and back to something sensible, maybe good hackers and the aftermarket can make this happen?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RS3 on Sunday August 21 2022, @02:49AM
I only did a very brief search, but I did find Arduino libraries for some OBD-II functions. Not sure if radio, HVAC, etc., have been documented yet, but it's just a matter of finding the communication protocol specs (they're out there somewhere!) and interfacing some nice buttons and some LEDs to the Arduino.
Seems like it'd be a great product...
(Score: 4, Interesting) by krishnoid on Saturday August 20 2022, @09:10PM (1 child)
Consider getting an OBD-II bluetooth dongle [cnet.com] or borrowing a friend's. There are a lot of other cheaper, well-rated options on Amazon as well. This port was mandated on all cars built since 1996 [ca.gov] and people sound like they're very happy with the diagnostics the various apps collect even from the cheaper Amazon dongles.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RS3 on Saturday August 20 2022, @10:14PM
Very good advice.
If your vehicle is 2008 or newer, through the OBD-II connector you have access to the vehicle's CAN bus [wikipedia.org], which theoretically would give you full access to control of things like HVAC, radio / entertainment system, etc. There are some projects and products which do some of these things, like "Auto Pi".
(Score: 5, Funny) by fliptop on Saturday August 20 2022, @10:00PM (10 children)
B/c just last week I set my points using a dwell meter that I bought in 1977 and doesn't require batteries to operate.
To be oneself, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday August 20 2022, @11:16PM
Sounds like you need an app for that. Hands stay clean, no opening the hood, win-win.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by anubi on Sunday August 21 2022, @12:30AM (7 children)
Hey, I've done the same. A lot. If the points weren't set right, the car ran like crap and fouled it's plugs.
Getting rid of points and carburetors ( they were fine until they started changing gasolines, some of which would cause various diaphragms inside the carburetor to rupture ), but nevertheless, carburetors we're good enough to roughly mix enough gasoline into the air that it would work...well, maybe lean, maybe rich, after a while one learned to sniff it out.
And which screw to turn. Which way and how much. And which other screw you had to adjust to compensate for turning the first screw.
And the phone numbers for the tow truck and a mechanic just in case you fixed it and couldn't get it started again.
I guess you remember a "tune-up".
Lots of tweaking various screws all over the carburetor to compensate for all sorts of things...wear, altitude, baro pressure, temperature, fuel grade, maybe even the brand.
If you really knew what you were doing, you could tweak it to run absolutely great for the day.
If you had an engineering understanding of how the engine ran, you could usually get it running.
If you were reasonably mechanically adept, you could get it to make a lot of noise, make lots of smoke, and make all your neighbors aware that you fix things.
A can of SeaFoam helped a lot in the theatrical effects. That would make several neighborhoods aware of your prowess.
Also kept the fire department on it's toes responding to calls from adjacent neighborhoods who looked up and thought it was a house fire
Bring back any memories?
I was sure glad to see fuel injection. Even throttle body injection, but port injection was the cat's meow!
I figure in my years of life on this planet, I have curated about the most useful ( to me ) technologies ever made. Some of them of quite recent design ( like lithium power tools, flashlights, radios, cellphones, android tablets, network stuff ), some old ( mechanical diesel van ). Some quite old ( Triplett 630, 60's era microwave oven, even some old brass water valves, made by Ohio Brass, in 1936. Such elegant maintainable design. I was so impressed by them I just had to research who made such an elegant thing.)
One thing I have learned....
If it ain't hackable, you have to live with what you've got. Or buy whatever it is you want.
If you can hack it, you have a helluva lot more flexibility to make what you want out of what you have.
That's advice passed down from grandpa, an old Alabama Farmer.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RS3 on Sunday August 21 2022, @02:42AM (1 child)
Many moons ago, on my first car (which I still have) which has ignition points, I bought and installed a capacitive discharge electronic ignition. I forget who made the kit, but Radio Shack also sold them for a while. You keep your points and condenser and coil. In fact the module has a switch to completely bypass it if it fails. That car would barely idle in standard Kettering mode, but push that switch to CDI mode and the idle came up and smoothed out. If you disconnected the main coil HV wire, the sparks generated were enough to jump from the HV connection in the tower out to one of the primary terminals. Yikes! Then I added an Accel "super coil" (I think that's what it's called) and it made even longer sparks.
That car got a Holley carb early on. I had (still have) a large main jet assortment, so I was always tuning- mostly for efficiency / gas mileage. Carb has large secondaries when you needed to get moving.
But even then it didn't quite run right, so I did some hardware hacking. Carburetors have a very very important "off idle" circuit that does much of the work at light throttle / cruising. There are internal fuel metering orifices, and in the "air horn" are some air bleeds to pre-mix with the fuel. But I've never seen adjustments for the off-idle circuits. For whatever reason there was too much air, leaning it out too much, causing some stumbling but also some light misfiring, which hurt gas mileage and emissions. I experimented with various sized pieces of wire to partially block the air bleeds, and got it running amazingly well.
The best, IMHO, is a fuel injection that you can fully tune / program. I have a (now resting) 1994 Chevy (throttle body injection) that I used to pull the EPROM and reprogram a lot of stuff, largely the ignition advance curves. Once for fun I put the stock ROM / tune back in and it was almost undriveable.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Sunday August 21 2022, @03:34AM
Boy, that sounds like a rewarding foray into making things work right. Yup! Definitely an Engineer. I mean the real one, not that clown who gets all sorts of diplomas but couldn't diagnose a failed flashlight.
Living in California, I was always afraid of doing anything to my car as every two years I had to "smog" it, which entailed having to have it visually inspected. Any change one makes made it likely that I fail the "visual".
This is the same state where if one changes the appearance of their house, replaces a rotten fence, trims trees without approved contractor, ... Well.
But California grandfathered old diesels like mine, and I can now do things to it. Except roll coal. Which I flat won't do anyway. Law or no law. To me, rolling coal is a pinnacle of wastefulness, conspicuous consumption, and demonstration of being an a**.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Sunday August 21 2022, @03:32AM (4 children)
For that you need a vacuum gauge. Also doesn't require batteries.
To be oneself, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday August 21 2022, @03:38AM (3 children)
Yup! Had one of them too.
You are really at a disadvantage if your hearing goes bad and you try to find the vacuum leak!
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Sunday August 21 2022, @04:51AM (2 children)
I have in my possession an ultrasonic leak detector! It makes an audio sound, has an earphone jack, and LED bar graph. I didn't reverse-engineer it (yet) but it probably has a 40KHz transducer (very common, cheap) and associated amplification and LED bar graph driver chip (LM3914 or similar), and maybe an oscillator + mixer to heterodyne the 40KHz down to human range. It works amazingly well, and you can use it with a long tube to get into tight places.
I haven't bought one of these yet: electronic stethoscope [ebay.com] but likely will soon.
You may know- an old trick to find vacuum leaks is to dispense something flammable in and around suspected leak-prone areas and listen for RPM change. Flammable carb cleaners, propane, etc., are often used... hopefully very carefully.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Sunday August 21 2022, @10:46AM (1 child)
Thanks for the propane tip, although my diesel doesn't vacuum that way. ( It has a vacuum pump to run the brake assist and HVAC actuators. ). But it will come in handy to share with friends.
Wouldn't be surprised if they simply multiplied received ultrasonic and transmitted ultrasonic to recover Doppler shift, but then that's almost exactly what you said in the first place...heterodyne it down to audio.
It never ceases to amaze me just how much information can be revealed by just *listening* to something without saying a word. Doppler shifts, harmonics, beamformers, multipath analysis. Aren't bats amazing? All my study and I am just scratching the surface of what they do.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday August 21 2022, @07:57PM
I've tinkered with electronics pretty much all my life, and I've often used some kind of audio to listen in to circuits. Even digital circuits can sometimes reveal a problem when the rhythm isn't right. A 'scope too of course, but it's very difficult to see distortion in a waveform with a scope, but you can sure hear harmonics. Of course spectrum analyzer is best to find harmonic distortion in audio circuits.
I forgot- Diesel runs WOT. No vacuum. But the ultrasonic listener would find a leak in your vacuum system for sure!
Does it have a vacuum reservoir? I would assume it does. So you should be able to hear a leak after shutting off the horrible noise- sorry, I mean Diesel.
Q: how can you tell if you have rod bearing knock in a Diesel? A:, you can't until one comes out the side. :-}
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 21 2022, @12:53PM
> ... set my points using a dwell meter...
In the early 1970's I got to know a family (father, three sons) who repaired/rebuilt/restored old Harley-Davidson motorcycles, had a garage full of vintage parts. They had a variety of amusing catch phrases, one I remember was, "Hand me that yardstick, I need to set the points."
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Snotnose on Saturday August 20 2022, @11:00PM (1 child)
Evidently Kia and Hyundai to basic security, so there are scores of tic tok videos of teenagers taking them for a ride.
You have to wonder, if they skipped out on a $0.05 chunk of hardware to make the cars hard to steal, what else did they cheap out on? I'm already hearing stories of Kias burning oil. Not enough until about 50k miles that regular oil changes won't notice, but the semi-lack of oil pressure is causing problems in the #1 and #4 chambers about the time the warranty runs out.
I just passed a drug test. My dealer has some explaining to do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 21 2022, @12:05AM
Yet another reason to keep my 2003 Toyota going. 130K miles and the engine acts like it's just getting broken in. Manual trans working fine too.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday August 21 2022, @02:15AM (3 children)
I am too lazy to read it, but did he brick the car at any point?
I have a nicely written instruction on how to hack my wife's forester and I do want to change certain things, but playing with modems taught me differently.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday August 21 2022, @02:21AM (2 children)
The reason I ask, if you fucked up an American muscle car or certain Japanese, there are many folks around who would help you to reprogram the computer. Hyundai? You are likely on your own and screwed.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday August 21 2022, @02:45AM (1 child)
Well, like anything, keep a few copies of the stock tune.
What hardware and software are you using to do the tuning?
(Score: 2) by legont on Monday August 22 2022, @12:56AM
I am not doing anything, mind you; not yet anyway, but my forester runs QNX I belive.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.