this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2025
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Right to Repair
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Whether it be electronics, automobiles or medical equipment, the manufacturers should not be able to horde “oem” parts, render your stuff useless if you repair it with aftermarket parts, or hide schematics of their products.
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I happen to know the VPN software used in Teslas to call home for updates is only installable on Linux. That strongly suggests that Teslas run Linux.
I find all of this very interesting. Seems I was wrong about Linux and cars not being there. That being said, and considering the terms to create code on top of a gnu license, where is the code at? I would be shocked of any of it is actually open and visible
Given Linux is GPLv2, the manufacturer is allowed to stop you from flashing your own compiled firmware. Not to mention insurance won't cover you.
Sadly this makes circumventing these user hostile & environment hostile practically impossible.
Edit: Also, the manufacturer would only need to publish the Linux source code (and similarly licensed software) while most features are likely implemented in a separate module and thus they are likely proprietary.
Those are good points. As I stated on another comment, out of safety and other stuff getting your code in the car sounds very difficult to allow, unless we would all agree that some sort of attestation would "certify" that you are not doing some whacky stuff on your car.
However, I do have a sort of counterpoint to all this (and can be considered a hot take): the dash system, architecture wise, should not be allowed to touch anything on the vehicle operation that involves either safety or driving. Meaning for example, you can (and should) be able to blow the ac with the dash, but never the park brake.