Hobbyists modify GM's OnStar system
Owners Can Avoid Carmaker Giant's Fees for GPS Service
By Sandeep Junnarkar
New York Times
Ray and Elna Kawal hit the open road in the fall on an 8,000-mile trip in their 2002 Chevy Tahoe with General Motors' OnStar navigation system serving as their North Star.
From their home in Sequim, Wash., across to Denver and Chicago, down to Mexico and then homeward through Arizona and California, the Kawals followed directions to tourist destinations, hotels and their friends' homes using OnStar's Global Positioning System navigation -- just the kind of business GM covets for its subscription service. But in this case, the automaker didn't make a penny from the six-week excursion.
That's because Ray Kawal, a 57-year-old retired engineer, had pried the OnStar unit from behind the glove compartment and customized it to work with his laptop and commercially available mapping software. His wife read him directions right off the laptop that sat between them. The modified unit was no longer connected to the OnStar network, over which representatives could have provided the same service for a fee.
``My wife was basically doing a lot of what the OnStar service person would do,'' Kawal said. ``Many of the things OnStar wants you to pay for, you can take the unit out and do it yourself.''
Web instructions
Other road warriors are quickly discovering this as Web sites and message boards spring up with step-by-step instructions on removing and personalizing OnStar's navigational and communications components.
While there are no estimates on how many people have customized the device in their cars, those who are proficient at adapting the system are helping friends and family members do so, and some are beginning to parlay their skills into a weekend business.
The hobbyists have OnStar peering around an unforeseen curve.
Bruce Radloff, OnStar's chief technology officer, pointed out that owners who tamper with the system risk voiding the warranty on the OnStar unit -- and more critically, the warranty on the entire car. Yet he acknowledges the temptation.
``From my own perspective -- and GM may feel differently -- once someone buys the car, I guess their desire to modify it and make changes to it is up to them,'' Radloff said. ``But why would you take that kind of risk of invalidating your vehicle warranty when you can go out and buy a GPS receiver for a couple of hundred bucks these days?''
`Freedom to tinker'
The question goes to the heart of a principle long embraced by technologists. Edward W. Felten, a professor of computer science at Princeton University and a leading voice for this philosophy, defines it on his Web log as the ``freedom to tinker'' ethic. This calls for the ``freedom to understand, discuss, repair and modify the technological devices you own.''
Tinkerers seek little justification to deconstruct any technology. A common reason given for fiddling with a device is simply that it's there. These technologists believe that a bit of tweaking will inevitably unearth some innovative uses.
It was this curiosity that led Pete Carter, a 28-year-old computer engineer at an online brokerage in Omaha, to plug a GPS unit he had bought for his father into his own laptop just to see how it would react. To his surprise, the laptop picked up the device without requiring any additional software.
He figured that the components used by OnStar's GPS unit were probably the same and resolved to put his theory to the test. After the challenge of prying the unit loose from behind the dashboard, Carter faced a more daunting task. He had to switch the unit's programming language to one accepted by commercial mapping software and then solder a connection compatible with his laptop. Once he succeeding at harnessing the GPS capabilities of his OnStar system, he created a Tap Into OnStar Web site to help others modify their units.
Fee for service
When a driver requests directions from an OnStar representative, his GPS data is routed over an analog cellular network to OnStar computers. The agent then reads back the directions over the same cellular network. The price for this service, which also includes emergency services and hotel and restaurant recommendations and reservations, is about $420 annually, or $400 if paid upfront.
For some, the success such hobbyists have had in tapping into their personal OnStar units evokes the hacker who seeks to break into a networked system simply out of curiosity.
Security researchers have even raised the specter that as more cars come equipped with OnStar navigation systems, hackers will be tempted to try to exploit the technology to locate OnStar users.
Owners Can Avoid Carmaker Giant's Fees for GPS Service
By Sandeep Junnarkar
New York Times
Ray and Elna Kawal hit the open road in the fall on an 8,000-mile trip in their 2002 Chevy Tahoe with General Motors' OnStar navigation system serving as their North Star.
From their home in Sequim, Wash., across to Denver and Chicago, down to Mexico and then homeward through Arizona and California, the Kawals followed directions to tourist destinations, hotels and their friends' homes using OnStar's Global Positioning System navigation -- just the kind of business GM covets for its subscription service. But in this case, the automaker didn't make a penny from the six-week excursion.
That's because Ray Kawal, a 57-year-old retired engineer, had pried the OnStar unit from behind the glove compartment and customized it to work with his laptop and commercially available mapping software. His wife read him directions right off the laptop that sat between them. The modified unit was no longer connected to the OnStar network, over which representatives could have provided the same service for a fee.
``My wife was basically doing a lot of what the OnStar service person would do,'' Kawal said. ``Many of the things OnStar wants you to pay for, you can take the unit out and do it yourself.''
Web instructions
Other road warriors are quickly discovering this as Web sites and message boards spring up with step-by-step instructions on removing and personalizing OnStar's navigational and communications components.
While there are no estimates on how many people have customized the device in their cars, those who are proficient at adapting the system are helping friends and family members do so, and some are beginning to parlay their skills into a weekend business.
The hobbyists have OnStar peering around an unforeseen curve.
Bruce Radloff, OnStar's chief technology officer, pointed out that owners who tamper with the system risk voiding the warranty on the OnStar unit -- and more critically, the warranty on the entire car. Yet he acknowledges the temptation.
``From my own perspective -- and GM may feel differently -- once someone buys the car, I guess their desire to modify it and make changes to it is up to them,'' Radloff said. ``But why would you take that kind of risk of invalidating your vehicle warranty when you can go out and buy a GPS receiver for a couple of hundred bucks these days?''
`Freedom to tinker'
The question goes to the heart of a principle long embraced by technologists. Edward W. Felten, a professor of computer science at Princeton University and a leading voice for this philosophy, defines it on his Web log as the ``freedom to tinker'' ethic. This calls for the ``freedom to understand, discuss, repair and modify the technological devices you own.''
Tinkerers seek little justification to deconstruct any technology. A common reason given for fiddling with a device is simply that it's there. These technologists believe that a bit of tweaking will inevitably unearth some innovative uses.
It was this curiosity that led Pete Carter, a 28-year-old computer engineer at an online brokerage in Omaha, to plug a GPS unit he had bought for his father into his own laptop just to see how it would react. To his surprise, the laptop picked up the device without requiring any additional software.
He figured that the components used by OnStar's GPS unit were probably the same and resolved to put his theory to the test. After the challenge of prying the unit loose from behind the dashboard, Carter faced a more daunting task. He had to switch the unit's programming language to one accepted by commercial mapping software and then solder a connection compatible with his laptop. Once he succeeding at harnessing the GPS capabilities of his OnStar system, he created a Tap Into OnStar Web site to help others modify their units.
Fee for service
When a driver requests directions from an OnStar representative, his GPS data is routed over an analog cellular network to OnStar computers. The agent then reads back the directions over the same cellular network. The price for this service, which also includes emergency services and hotel and restaurant recommendations and reservations, is about $420 annually, or $400 if paid upfront.
For some, the success such hobbyists have had in tapping into their personal OnStar units evokes the hacker who seeks to break into a networked system simply out of curiosity.
Security researchers have even raised the specter that as more cars come equipped with OnStar navigation systems, hackers will be tempted to try to exploit the technology to locate OnStar users.
