Quote from: TopherSho on February 26, 2021, 06:54:08 PM
I agree that ECU encryption will be a major hurdle going forward. Mercedes has been making PITA encryption for some time but tuning is still possible for them once they crack the ECU encoding. Infinity was the same way.
Looking at https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/bitstream/handle/1974/24854/Alam_Md_Swawibe_Ul_201809_MSC.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y so far the transitory data is what they are looking to secure when vehicles pass each other on the street, or when they enter a repair bay. I would not worry about blockchain hashing a ECU, but more or less tamper protection schemes like employed by the XBOX/PS using hardware level non-moddable hardware keys and TPM's looking for code signing on boot. That is where things get illegal fast and DMCA violations and trademark lawsuits come in as in many cases modding consoles requires soldering resistors or traces to trigger debug or engineering modes or by pass a signal to boot.
For now that kind of ECU protection is 'expensive' enough to ward away using them on millions of cars with hair thin margins.
I think we have maybe (imo) 5 more years before FORD or CHEVY get serious about locking out ECU tuning with better encryption, and code signing protection, even possibly boot time hardware protection (BUT I think the last part is unlikely for some time). By then most all the fleet of ford/chevy will be some flavor of turbo so the incentive to lock us out will be there for sure.
Time will tell. But agree 100% were on the the downward slide. With the ''right to repair'' under withering fire this is the last decade of large scale 'mainstream' tuning off-the-lot cars with a 'vendor' and not on the downlow under the table.
So block chain in an of itself wont prevent the tuning at all.. but it will create a validated way that is secure to 100% identify vehicles that have had their original ECU data tampered with.
This would be a major issue for those that need warranty work or are required to have their OBD2 read for emission purposes. It would quickly identify any car that is not running the factory calibrations.
What the state/manufactures/federal agencies do with that information is up to them.
Encryption standards for breaking into an ECU are different than what I am talking about with blockchain. The idea with blockchain is that it makes it extremely difficult to get away with it..
IE: Even reverting back to stock wouldn't work, the virtual ledger in the ECU would show that it had been changed, setting off a flag.. the car would then fail emissions/inspection/etc and would be required to go back to the dealer to be updated with the correct factory code. And due to the properties of blockchain that series of information exchanges would always be available to be verified.
TPM's, hardware boot protection, etc. is all at the local level of the ECU and is EXPENSIVE to implement in large scale (think millions of cars).. With everything becoming connected, it would be cheap and satisfy future regulatory requirements to implement a blockchain system onto cars.
I could be 100% wrong, but they are already in the process of doing studies on how to implement it in the automotive industry for a ton of different reasons. This is just but one. Warranty validation is one of the biggest reasons for it. I could see our current political climate tacking on EPA reg's as well as an after thought (via executive order mind you).
https://btcmanager.com/automobile-renault-blockchain-vehicle-components/