Full Self-Driving Beta Software Leaks to the Tesla Root Access Community
Tags: Ukraine, Tesla Motors, Tesla, Beta, Full Self Driving

Full Self-Driving Beta Software Leaks to the Tesla Root Access Community onlyusedtesla Sep 8·3 min read

Kiev, Ukraine: the first unofficial international use of the Full Self-Driving Beta

An older version of the Full Self-Driving Beta software has leaked, and is available to users within the Tesla root access community.

The binary firmware files for versions 8.2 as well as potentially 9.0 of the Full Self-Driving Beta are available online via unofficial channels.

Installing the software itself requires root access, which is a method of gaining access to the root of a Linux-based system such as Tesla’s core operating system. It has been used in the past to find and activate unreleased or un-utilized features within the code of software updates.

This is the first time that root access is being used in such a circuitous manner, allowing unauthorized users outside of Tesla’s closed Early Access program to install a potentially-unreliable beta.

A Tesla owner in Kiev, Ukraine installed version 8.2 of the Beta in his Model 3 despite the Beta being optimized specifically for the U.S. He demonstrated on YouTube how the Full Self-Driving Beta operates with less-than-perfect maps and functionality.

Tesla is planning to make the upcoming Vision-based v10 release of its Full Self-Driving Beta open publicly to all users that have purchased it as an option and request access within the next month or so. While it is now possible for owners to bypass the wait and even the associated cost, root access is a complicated and potentially dangerous process intended only for the most technically-savvy and daring hackers within the community.

Real Talk

Let us preface this by saying that we absolutely do not suggest for Tesla owners to gain “root access” to their vehicle’s operating system. It’s not ideal for a large number of reasons including overall safety and vulnerability concerns. This is essentially similar to “jailbreaking,” or opening a closed ecosystem for the purposes of user customizability. It was unbeknownst even to us that this was an option for Tesla owners and sounds far better in theory: it is an incredibly unadvisable idea for practically every Tesla user.

That being said, it is remarkable how well the Full Self-Driving Beta is able to operate even in unoptimized areas such as the example of Kiev, Ukraine. It can be unpredictable and of course dangerous for all on the road to run beta software in this manner, so it requires full supervision and of course we have to reiterate that this is highly-advanced and shouldn’t be attempted under any circumstance.

We are slightly surprised that this is even possible due to the inherent security of Tesla’s systems, but at the heart of every Tesla is a full-fledged computer which at any level or class is hackable — it’s just a matter of how much security there is to get to that point. Tesla was recently made aware of this leak , and will likely do what they can to patch it so that the Beta can no longer be used by any user with root access in any country.

There should be no concern over the overall security of Tesla’s operating system, especially since the Tesla hacking community is for the most part on Tesla’s side and not looking to explicitly cause harm to the automaker or its customers.

“Hackers” using the leaked beta despite common sense dictating not to utilize outdated software in a manner in which it wasn't intended should err on the side of caution. Everyone else should wait for the public Full Self-Driving Beta.

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