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Comment by bdonlan | Hacker News Reader

Tesla cars support:

* Unlock by NFC keycard * Unlock by bluetooth using the app * Remote start by app (over the cell network)

AIUI the latter was down. I don't think the bluetooth would be down - that one works even without cell service - but I didn't try it during the time of the outage. Regardless, you really should carry the keycard around just in case your cellphone runs out of batteries or something.

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Making access to a vehicle dependent on a cloud service also adds security vulnerabilities that didn't exist before to real world objects. Perhaps Tesla should partner with the MPAA to create a public service announcement about this. I can imagine:

"You wouldn't steal a web server..."

It’s not dependent. You have a physical keycard that lets you start and drive the car. The app also lets you start and drive the car with no internet over Bluetooth. The only thing not working here was the OTA remote administration of the car. The article is misleading.

You're right, I apologise. I (meant and) should have said something like "making the car's security dependent on", in the sense of a weakest link, or additional attack surface.

This is absolutely bonkers to me. Why does a car need electronics at all to open the door? Were they not bored enough in design?

My car has keyless fob-proximity entry and a key if the fob, or the car, runs out of battery power. Like a car does.

If the bluetooth works, I'm surprised the app wouldn't automatically switch to that when the RPC cloud call fails.

As far as I understand, the users could not open the app at all - because it could not connect to Teslas servers.

The Bluetooth unlock worked fine during this outage. The only feature unavailable was “remote unlock/start” where the user is not within Bluetooth range of the car.

Interesting. Seems like that would be an everyday issue...plenty of dead spots in cell coverage, underground parking garages, etc. Or perhaps they check for "no network", but not "network is there, endpoint is borked".

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