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Comment by teilo | Hacker News Reader

I would imagine the easiest way to steal a Tesla is to create a make-shift faraday cage in a truck bed and then disconnect the power.

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I'd bet my life that either they Faraday caged it immediately a-la a Knight Rider-type fully-enclosed, possibly-camouflaged vehicle truck or they knew how to disconnect power to the GPS system quickly. Either way, it was faster than owner or police could do anything about it.

The police working with Tesla would be wise to leave some bait-cars around with extra cameras and nearby arrest teams to gather evidence to prosecute the gang(s) doing this.

Really doesn't need camouflage. Generic white box flatbeds are all over the place.

I was about to say that is a lot of effort.. but for a 100k car it would be worth it.

What do they do about software updates though? They would probably have to break the firmware to if they still want any updates.

I wonder how long until someone "jailbreaks" Teslas.

So far there's been one successful attack that involved surfing to a 'bad' webpage on the car's touchscreen browser, followed by a malicious firmware update. Tesla's been closing the known holes, of course.

If Tesla remains as controlling over the Model 3 as they are over the Model S, you'll see a HECK of a lot more "jailbreaking", reverse engineering, and third party knock-off parts. A big reason Tesla has likely been successful so far controlling so much of the market around the Tesla is the high price: People who have them can afford Tesla's services and will be averse to risking the car with unsupported work, and there aren't all that many of them out there (comparatively) to begin with.

With the Model 3 hitting a much wider consumer market, you'll see a lot more interest in ways to get around Tesla.

I am actually expecting you may also see more lawsuits regarding things like software activation requirements vs. holding the title to the car and such. Tesla treats these cars like they're still Tesla's property, and if anything I'm shocked it hasn't been tested in court more already.

There's been a big legal battle between John Deere tractors and farmers who want to fix them. I haven't been paying close attention to that case, but it seems like a very similar situation.

Big difference between business operators and private individuals consuming goods.

Besides there being many more of the latter they also have special legal aspects in the form of all kinds of consumer protections.

> I'm shocked it hasn't been tested in court more already.

Most Teslas on the road are still under warranty, with Tesla footing the bill for repairs. Once all of those second and third owners of Model Ss start needing out-of-warranty repairs, then I expect we'll start seeing some real heat.

Say goodbye to ever supercharging.

A trailer with an all metal skin is an off the shelf type item, a Connex box, for example. One could also line the inside of a trailer with foil backed foam. Neither would be a lot of effort, even for a $30k car.

> foil backed foam

Foil backed foam won't necessarily block a cell signal - heck, there are entire buildings insulated with the stuff and it has little effect.

Even if they can't steal a whole car and have it be usable, the parts might still be worth a lot. If you steal a 100k car and sell the parts for 10k, it could still be profitable and worth the risk to some people.

Or a cloth car cover faraday cage. Slip it over the car and voila.

Right. Way easier, and easily portable from truck to truck. Crazy.

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