Newshot Researchers Crack Switch 2 to Control a Tesla: Steering Wheel, Accelerator and Brakes All Controllable
IT Home, November 15 news: Tesla is working hard to make car owners no longer need to personally operate the steering wheel, but at the same time, some owners are trying to regain control of driving in various novel ways.
Automotive cybersecurity researcher Matthew Kucanich (Matthew KuKanich) recently shared a video on Reddit showing himself using a 任天堂 Switch 2 controller to control a Tesla car. Kucanich said the system allows him to fully control vehicle functions, including the steering wheel, accelerator, brakes, turn signals, horn, gear and windshield wipers.
Kucanich did not directly crack the Tesla car; instead, he jailbroke the Switch 2 and developed a custom application called CAN Commander. The app sends control commands to the vehicle through the car's CAN bus. The CAN bus is the network through which the various electronic components inside a car communicate with each other.
Kucanich explained on the X platform: "I developed custom Switch 2 software for my own Tesla, as well as an external CAN control system."
The app maps various vehicle functions to the Switch 2 controller buttons: the left joystick controls the steering wheel, the ZR button controls acceleration, the ZL button controls braking, and the A button switches between forward gear and reverse gear; the L and R buttons control the turn signals respectively, the X button triggers a single wiper action, and the Y button is used to honk the horn.
The app can also read vehicle data in real time and display it on the screen, including vehicle speed, steering wheel angle, current gear and device connection status. Kucanich said the system has multiple built-in safety features, and users must continuously hold the B button to exit the control interface.
In the demonstration video, the Tesla remained stationary the entire time. Kucanich moved the Switch 2's left joystick, and the car's steering wheel turned accordingly, while the vehicle's turn signals also flashed according to the operation commands.
This is not the first time Kucanich has tried to drive a Tesla with a game controller. He previously demonstrated using an Xbox controller to control the vehicle, and even tried a 任天堂 Wii Remote.
The Wii Remote supports motion control, so users only need to tilt the controller and the car's steering wheel turns accordingly. Some of the videos Kucanich posted also showed these novel steering control schemes being used on actual roads.
For a car that increasingly emphasizes autonomous driving capabilities, this experiment seems rather interesting. The Tesla Robotaxi service is currently operating 24 hours a day in all cities where it operates, and the Cybercab designed specifically for autonomous taxis does not even have a steering wheel.
Of course, using a game controller to control a car sounds fun, but joystick drift issues could cause trouble for driving. Kucanich has not yet released the source code for this project, but he said he may upload the code to his GitHub page in the future.
IT Home needs to remind readers that this is just an interesting technical research project and is not suitable for trying on public roads.
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