Bankrupt Fisker says it can't migrate its EVs to a new owner's server | Hacker News Reader

Bankrupt Fisker says it can't migrate its EVs to a new owner's server

arstechnica.com

16 pointsstirlo21 comments

Rich Rebuilds on YouTube bought a cheap Fiskar Ocean and documented his work getting it running and trying to get a software update for it.

https://youtu.be/b_OxgAYG0Io?si=rT_UFWTc5v6t58nb

https://youtu.be/WLGaAE4_RjQ?si=sSNi5Pg4DEccUgXr

https://youtu.be/qzy7-UXLdH4?si=L1kjOZpQOmhD4JSu

If a vehicle is going to be completely dependent on software for basic functions, then owners should be able to at least replace or patch that software with standardized freely available tools.

Great input for right to repair legislation efforts. Providing a reference implementation for cloud services should probably be mandated if the vehicle is dependent on cloud infra to operate.

I'd go even further, if the company goes bankrupt, the company should be required by law to open source the code.

Also, the build tools, whatever's necessary to sign/flash firmware, and they must demonstrate repeatable builds.

The argument that the code may contain third-party licensed code that can't be open sourced is the usual retort that comes next.

I'm with you, though. This is a place where consumer protection needs to be bolstered.

as much as I would love that personally, the software is an asset and bankruptcy means they have to try and liquidate all assets in order to cover their liabilities. besides, bankruptcy doesn't always mean the company and all services disappear.

imo a reasonable middle ground is to prevent companies from locking down access to the vehicle's computers. owners should be able to root and self-manage the software, even if that software has to be painstakingly reverse engineered.

ofc the safety critical systems make that trickier but still.

Wait so carmakers can also now pull the Adobe “we retired the activation servers and you can no longer use the thing you bought”?

"Oceans "cannot, as a technical matter, be 'ported' from the Fisker server to which the vehicles are currently linked to a distinct server owned and/or controlled by" American Lease."

Sounds like an excuse, more so if they didn't disclose what the 'technical matter' is.

Malicious compliance. Can be something like cars cert pinned to Fisker.com, bankruptcy means no employees so no one to push update.

Might be a 'You bought a House, but not the frontage road, pay more sucker' play.

Sure... "bankrupt-adjacent company with vaguely hard-coded cloud dependencies inconveniences their customers" is a story we've seen many times in the past already, and will continue to see uncountable times in the future, mostly because most people reading stories like these are employed by startups doing the exact same thing.

So, the issue becomes "how to fix this"? This very same site tells me that EU-style hardcore regulation "makes it impossible to run a business", so, I'm open to suggestions, other than "Open Source Everything and Rewrite it in Rust"?

Open Source Everything, Rust optional.

I don't fully understand: does it mean that the cars are bricked and cannot be driven or simply that some cloud features e.g. driver customizations or real time traffic data is no longer available?

The cars can be driven as cars, however all cloud features are going to break. Some would say that this is good news as they cannot be tracked.

Interesting, but not surprising. When a tech-heavy company goes under, don't expect the simplest of issues to be resolved.

Seems shocking that for $46.3 million they cannot find a way to enable this.

My heart goes out to any Fisker owners who purchased one of these soon to be bricks at full sticker.

I'm with you at full sticker, however American Lease ignored all the warnings and got what it deserved.

>Car publications were already warning consumers to steer clear of the Ocean as early as this March, despite massive price cuts that saw these electric SUVs being offered for less than $25,000. A New York-based company called American Lease was less deterred by this warning and in June agreed to purchase the remaining Fisker inventory—approximately 3,300 cars for a total of $46.3 million dollars.

At $14k/ea, this is a calculated risk.

Maybe they can make the vehicles work. Maybe they can sell the parts to existing owners.

In the worst case, what's the scrap value of the packs and other components?

"It is our intention to collaborate with the Fisker Owners Association to create a universally beneficial pipeline of parts as well as technical and mechanical support."

Does anyone know what the real life consequences are? Will the cars not even run or are we talking about just not getting updates anymore?

Surely the people here could solve the problem.

They hardcoded IP addresses, didn't they? /s

Surely it’s something more difficult than that. I’d actually love to work on this.

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