Comment by mindslight
7 months ago
At least if you open a "smart" fridge/dishwasher/washer/dryer/etc, it's basically the same old cost-optimized bare-bones design (maybe one or two extra sensors for special marketing bullet point features), and then all of the "smarts" is on a control board that could mostly just be replaced (ECM motors seem to be the exception to this, and even those are straightforward to design a circuit to drive).
Whereas the problem is that cars have had computers for a long time (eg ECU, ABS, entertainment), then those started getting connected together locally via CAN, then finally they added an Internet connection for surveillance and control. So the centralizing proprietary software tentacles go deep into the car in a way that's not easy to remove or replace.
There is the black box approach of disabling network interfaces, but I could even see that going away - cannot contact network -> car cannot be sure that warranty recalls have been done in a timely fashion -> disable itself after a month until you "take it to a dealer" (or reconnect the cell backhaul).
Replacing the control board is going to cost $400. That’s most of the price of the device.
Requiring a control board swap to lose the “smarts” / lockdown isn’t really a good enough option.
I suppose the emergence of the GNU Washing Machine Control Software would be a wonderful thing, but are we there now?
I didn't say it was a good enough option. It's just one of the only self-help options we have. And my point was that it is even less applicable to cars.