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I saw this article earlier:
Tesla 'going bankrupt' is endpoint of protests, says local organizer
In the spirit of right to repair, self-hosting, giving a second life to old devices, and limiting data collection by car companies:
- What are some considerations?
- Are there any projects worth keeping an eye on?
An example that came to mind was Valetudo, which is a cloud replacement for vacuum robots enabling local-only operation. Some robot vacuums are easy to install this on, and others require more invasive modifications.
What I've found so far:
A problem is volunteers and critical mass.
Open source "hacks" need a big pool of people who want something to seed a few brilliant souls to develop it in their free time. It has to be at least proportional to the problem.
This kinda makes sense for robot vacuums: a lot of people have them, and the cloud service is annoying, simpler, and not life critical.
Teslas are a whole different deal. They are very expensive, and fewer people own them. Replicating even part of the cloud API calls is a completely different scope. The pool of Tesla owners willing to dedicate their time to that is just… smaller.
Also, I think buying a Tesla, for many, was a vote of implicit trust in the company and its software. It’s harder for someone cynical of its cloud dependence to end up with an entire luxury automobile.