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driverdan

What does that mean? Sent image files where? How did those image files impact car radios?

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I suspect they are talking about this:

https://radiodns.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Guidelines-o...

Essentially small images sent OTA that allow stations to "Brand" themselves on automotive receivers.

So a bug in the HD Radio app which has some very poor process architecture/sandboxing if it can take over the whole interface.

Good concept for a Black Mirror episode

Go go gadgetmobile

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/8/8e/Gadgetm...

I think they can also do useful things like traffic maps and album art over nrsc5

And buffer overflows and RCE as well, I assume ;-)

Maybe they could use an RCE to patch the firmware.

Eventually some Mazda owner will get frustrated enough to actually do that.

Goatse other people's radios is a terrible idea.

Advanced data services provide broadcasters with the ability to transmit information that may be unrelated to MPS, SIS or SPS. These services can carry any form and content that can be expressed as a data file or a data stream, including audio services. Examples of such services include (i) visual effects associated with MPS, SIS, or SPS services; (ii) multimedia presentations of stock, news, weather, and entertainment programming including audio, text and images; (iii) broadcast updates to in-vehicle systems; (iv) local storage of content for time shifting and later replay; (v) targeted advertising; (vi) traffic updates and information for use with navigation systems; and (vii) subscription or free-but-limited-access services using conditional access.

https://www.nrscstandards.org/standards-and-guidelines/docum...

SDR Receiver: https://github.com/theori-io/nrsc5

Wow goatse, now that’s something I haven’t heard in about a decade. For the curious, I wouldn’t google the image, not trying to be asshole…

Seems like a wide open gaping security problem if someone can goatse your car. What a huge hole that is.

I see what you did there, but I won't look at it.

I don't know the technical details of how it's encoded, but digital radio stations can embed metadata in their signal that the car radio can display. That includes text, like the station name, and also images, like a logo, that's usually shown next to the station name. I believe it's part of HD Radio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_Radio.

HD radio can broadcast images for the radio station, etc. that is displayed when you are tuned to that channel.

I imagine this could be anything like song album art, station icon, etc. for any car that has more than the scrolling led type radio display

How does a radio station even send an image file? What does that mean? What is suppose to happen when a radio station sends an image file?

HD radio is a lot more advanced than the old AM/FM stuff you may be used to.

In newer cars with video displays and HD Radio capability, the screen can show a small image next to the song information. It's typically album cover art for the song that is playing, but a lot of stations just put their station logo up and keep it there.

https://blogmedia.dealerfire.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/56...

Satellite radio had this capability very early, and HD Radio seems to want to keep up with that.

The data itself is sent on a sideband data channel that rides along with the traditional FM channel. Lots of links to read up starting here: https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/HD_Radio_(FM)

The signal specification can be read here: https://www.sigidwiki.com/images/f/f6/HD_Radio_FM.pdf

It's also possible to decode this data with an RTL-SDR receiver:

https://www.rtl-sdr.com/displaying-live-weather-and-traffic-...

What's interesting is that this traffic map is also loaded on Mazda cars, but shown in a different application. Somehow the system searches for a HDRadio signal in the background to update this map from an independent receiver.

I've had AM radio on for long periods and then load this app, and the traffic map is up to date. I've also driven to a different city and the map is now showing the new city.

If you asked drivers "would you like a brand icon shown on your screen for the radio station, the trade-off is a couple bucks more expensive car and more opportunity for bugs to crash your radio" -- who would say yes? Does anyone actually want this "HD Radio" technology, did anyone ask for it?

Who are the car manufacturers (and radio standards setters for that matter) working for?

Yes, my last car I specifically looked for HD Radio support. The metadata is nice to have, but the audio quality is genuinely much better. Especially on AM, where a lot of sports broadcasts still are, depending on the market.

And its where the stations hide their good content. it's no spotify of course, but a way more diverse offering on many stations hd2 and hd3 signals, still without ads on several as well.

Sure, your point stands if you pose it that way.

But if you pose it as seeing album art for music that you listen to (and titles!), that’s going to get a yes from a lot of people (myself included).

"Would you like a car that updates its entire control panel, unannounced, with a software upgrade and will hide familiar buttons on you when you need them the most?"

https://twitter.com/ArtemR/status/1488030592880967680

Whilst a lot of people (myself included) agree the recent UX change is awful, it doesn't seem relevant to the GP.

I believe moving to digital also allows stations to broadcast more channels. For instance, KUOW, the source of this bug, has KUOW-2 and KUOW-3 only accessible via HD Radio that broadcast things like the BBC news feed and classical music.

Of course, maybe you'd like to have that option without being exposed to logos.

Yes, I want HD Radio. In Los Angeles, KROQ's secondary HD channel plays KROQ as it existed in the 1980's, including some old jingles and such. I think it's such a cool idea.

I'm surprised you haven't seen this before. Even as a consultant way back in 2012, many basic rental cars had this feature. It shows album art and other metadata about the currently playing track or show. I believe it's part of HD radio.

At least that's the case in the USA. I seem to recall seeing the same in European vehicles as well.

Not everyone drives

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