Bricking Teslas

You may have heard about Teslas equipped with what is styled “Full Self-Driving” capability bricking – that is, going inert – as a result of a computer failure. “Tesla drivers are reporting computer failures after driving off with their brand-new cars over just the first few tens to hundreds of miles,” says the web site Elektrek, which covers EVs and EV-related issues. “Wide-ranging features powered by the computer, like active safety features, cameras, and even GPS, navigation, and range estimations, fail to work.”

Are these Teslas safe to drive if their safety features aren’t working? They are certainly risky to drive, if their range estimation systems aren’t working – because you might not make it where you were headed. You might end up bricked – by the side of the road – and it’s no easy thing to walk down the road to the closest “fast” charger for a jerry can of kilowatt-hours.

And it’s not easy to push 4,500 lbs. of device down the road, either.

But that’s not the really interesting thing – about bricking Teslas. More finely, about Teslas that brick because they’re working properly. More finely than that, Tesla can brick its cars anytime it likes.

Mark the italics.

Legally, the person whose name is on the title is the “owner” of the device. But is he, really, given that what he considers to be “his” device can be controlled remotely at any time by Tesla? The fact that Tesla doesn’t generally exert this control is immaterial.

What is material is the fact that Tesla could.

An example of this was made public a couple of years ago, when Tesla transmitted an update to its devices that were “owned” – so to speak – by people living in the path of a hurricane that was coming. Tesla very nicely increased the range of these devices, so as to allow the “owners” to have a better chance of driving far enough away to escape the hurricane. But Tesla could just as easily decide to be not-so-nice and send an update to reduce the range or not allow the device to be driven, at all. This is a fact, in terms of what’s possible. That it is not yet actual is merely a kind of  privilege or sufferance that can be revoked at will.

Perhaps when there is a “climate emergency.”

Keep in mind that Elon Musk is a proponent of taxing “carbon” – which means taxing energy and also implicitly the idea of restricting energy use since using energy (especially electricity generated by utility plants) generates a great deal of “carbon.” How convenient that Elon’s devices are already capable of serving as the vehicle for implementing a carbon tax – or throttling energy (electricity) usage.

Keep in mind, also, that Elon is already watching you. Noting – and recording – your movements if you “own” (or even just drive) one of Tesla’s devices. This fact – there’s another one! – came to light in the wake of the very strange detonation of a Cybertruck device in front of the Trump International Hotel in La Vegas. The device – which is itself incendiary, like all devices – was apparently packed with incendiary devices such as bottle rockets and pipe bombs.

But that is not what is interesting.

Far more interesting was the public reveal of the pre-detonation tracking of the device’s peregrinations. It was as if the device left a trail of breadcrumbs from its starting point to its ending point in front of Trump’s hotel. Except it was not “as if.”

It was.

The device recorded and probably transmitted in real-time data about its location and movements to the Tesla hive mind. It’s not technically called that, of course. But it gets the point across. Tesla is not merely a seller of devices. It is an aggregator of data – about you and your travels, if you “own” or just drive a device. The Cybertruck device that blew up in front of Trump’s hotel was not “owned’ by Matthew Livelsberger – the man who is said to have rented the device that was detonated in front of Trump’s hotel in Vegas. But it is a distinction without a difference.

“Law enforcement able to confirm (Livelsberger’s) identity in part due to Tesla surveillance along his route,” noted a news report about the attack.

“I have to thank Elon Musk specifically,” said Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. “He gave us quite a bit of additional information.”

Italics added.

Think about that the next time you rent a device – or maybe think of doing that. Not because you plan on detonating the device but because you might drive it faster than the speed limit, fail to stop completely before proceeding at a Stop sign or execute a lane change without signaling first. The device knows – and so does its owner, which isn’t really you. Even if you’re making payments on the thing rather than just renting it for the weekend.

It amounts to the same thing.

That thing being you are not really in control of the device, except to the extent that Tesla allows. Tesla also knows exactly how you use its device, too. And where and when. It’s not just Teslas, either. It’s all new vehicles – which might as well be devices.  

It is a kind of virtual reality “ownership” – like driving a car in a video game. You may be behind the wheel. But are you actually in control?  

It kind of makes you think of blowing something up, doesn’t it?

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