4 ms·

Cybertruck deactivated on road after a cease and desist for using it in a song

50 points by amarcheschi 1y ago

incomingpain 1y ago
Hard to read but comply with cease and desist? Failed update shutting of the truck? Shocking video telling everyone not to buy Tesla.
- amarcheschi 1y ago
  The red box in the display says "comply with cease and desist to reactivate" + other comments with the images of the c&d received by op I had to take a second look as well because the red box isn't clear to read
- immibis 1y ago
  Well yeah, if you wanted to make someone crash their car because you didn't like their speech, you wouldn't make the dashboard say "your car is about to crash because we don't like your speech". You'd make it say something like "failed update." You might not even have a mechanism to push error messages. You might just push a corrupted update package to them.
  - amarcheschi 1y ago
    It's not clearly readable and you might need to stop the video, but the red box above update failed say it quite loud that it's because they got a c&d and the cybertruck was deactivated
  - freedomben 1y ago
    I still think that would be an utter bullshit thing to do. Why the hell would you do a software update while the car is in use???
JohnFen 1y ago
A vehicle being able to be remotely disabled is a big red flag all by itself. A company that will disable your vehicle while it's in operation because they're mad at you is a company that nobody should do business with under any circumstances whatsoever. (I'm assuming the story is true for the sake of argument. I don't know that it is.)
- freedomben 1y ago
  Seriously, I've been sounding this alarm for so long and it's (nearly) always dismissed. I want my car to behave like my guitar: Do exactly what I tell it to do. Be an extension of my person!
- FireBeyond 1y ago
  This is not the first time Tesla has done it, either. Before the 3 was released, a customer found some references to it in their software and made some posts. Next thing they know, their vehicle's firmware was forcibly downgraded to a version that had no references, was forcibly version-locked at that firmware version, and had the Ethernet and OBD ports disabled.
- persolb 1y ago
  Everything about this looks fake, and Tesla confirmed it wasn’t real. Not finding great sources right now: https://www.carscoops.com/2025/08/rapper-fakes-video-claiming-tesla-deactivated-his-cybertruck/ https://www.carscoops.com/2025/08/rapper-fakes-video-claimin... I would be amazed if there are not interlocks to prevent an update while in drive. On normal updates there is definitely an interlock, plus a timer, but theoretically it is possible.
gurumeditations 1y ago
They could’ve killed multiple people with that, everyone who enabled that needs to be in prison now.
cwmoore 1y ago
Discussion from yesterday was flagged: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44859807 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44859807
juliangmp 1y ago
I'd say something like how this shouldn't be legal (and it might not be, idk I'm neither American nor a lawyer)... but my sympathy is quite limited since you made the conscious decision to buy a damn Tesla.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
pengaru 1y ago
That's a clever way to get popular, pathetic that the reality of the state of everything makes it so plausible.
impossiblefork 1y ago
Here in Sweden programming a feature allowing this or participating in the activation of this feature would be a crime called allmänfarlig vårdslöshet. The crime would be regarded as serious, due to the detailed planning, and would lead to everyone involved going to prison for two years. Why haven't the people who did this been arrested? Surely the US too, has laws against public endagerment?
- immibis 1y ago
  Good news: if the feature is in the USA then it's also in Sweden. Go do some reverse engineering and get some people in prison. As for why it's legal in the USA, it's legal for corporations and rich people to kill people over there.
  - impossiblefork 1y ago
    True. It's actually possible that I should send an e-mail to a prosecutor, and I guess I will. It's probably against the regulations specifying how cars must be built too, but it isn't my job to care about that, I just inform. Edit: They don't actually sell the Cybertruck here in Sweden though. Hmm. Maybe just a quick e-mail. Edit: There are seems to be some hoax claims. I guess if that's true, that's defamation from the rapper instead. Very stupid in the case.
josephcsible 1y ago
This was faked. He made a video of the Cybertruck UI with his message over it and played it in fullscreen with the car parked but fully operable.

50 points by amarcheschi 1y ago

Hard to read but comply with cease and desist? Failed update shutting of the truck? Shocking video telling everyone not to buy Tesla.

amarcheschi 1y ago
The red box in the display says "comply with cease and desist to reactivate" + other comments with the images of the c&d received by op I had to take a second look as well because the red box isn't clear to read
immibis 1y ago
Well yeah, if you wanted to make someone crash their car because you didn't like their speech, you wouldn't make the dashboard say "your car is about to crash because we don't like your speech". You'd make it say something like "failed update." You might not even have a mechanism to push error messages. You might just push a corrupted update package to them.
- amarcheschi 1y ago
  It's not clearly readable and you might need to stop the video, but the red box above update failed say it quite loud that it's because they got a c&d and the cybertruck was deactivated
- freedomben 1y ago
  I still think that would be an utter bullshit thing to do. Why the hell would you do a software update while the car is in use???

JohnFen 1y ago

A vehicle being able to be remotely disabled is a big red flag all by itself. A company that will disable your vehicle while it's in operation because they're mad at you is a company that nobody should do business with under any circumstances whatsoever. (I'm assuming the story is true for the sake of argument. I don't know that it is.)

freedomben 1y ago
Seriously, I've been sounding this alarm for so long and it's (nearly) always dismissed. I want my car to behave like my guitar: Do exactly what I tell it to do. Be an extension of my person!
FireBeyond 1y ago
This is not the first time Tesla has done it, either. Before the 3 was released, a customer found some references to it in their software and made some posts. Next thing they know, their vehicle's firmware was forcibly downgraded to a version that had no references, was forcibly version-locked at that firmware version, and had the Ethernet and OBD ports disabled.
persolb 1y ago
Everything about this looks fake, and Tesla confirmed it wasn’t real. Not finding great sources right now: https://www.carscoops.com/2025/08/rapper-fakes-video-claiming-tesla-deactivated-his-cybertruck/ https://www.carscoops.com/2025/08/rapper-fakes-video-claimin... I would be amazed if there are not interlocks to prevent an update while in drive. On normal updates there is definitely an interlock, plus a timer, but theoretically it is possible.

gurumeditations 1y ago

They could’ve killed multiple people with that, everyone who enabled that needs to be in prison now.

cwmoore 1y ago

Discussion from yesterday was flagged: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44859807 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44859807

juliangmp 1y ago

I'd say something like how this shouldn't be legal (and it might not be, idk I'm neither American nor a lawyer)... but my sympathy is quite limited since you made the conscious decision to buy a damn Tesla.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

pengaru 1y ago

That's a clever way to get popular, pathetic that the reality of the state of everything makes it so plausible.

impossiblefork 1y ago

Here in Sweden programming a feature allowing this or participating in the activation of this feature would be a crime called allmänfarlig vårdslöshet. The crime would be regarded as serious, due to the detailed planning, and would lead to everyone involved going to prison for two years. Why haven't the people who did this been arrested? Surely the US too, has laws against public endagerment?

immibis 1y ago
Good news: if the feature is in the USA then it's also in Sweden. Go do some reverse engineering and get some people in prison. As for why it's legal in the USA, it's legal for corporations and rich people to kill people over there.
- impossiblefork 1y ago
  True. It's actually possible that I should send an e-mail to a prosecutor, and I guess I will. It's probably against the regulations specifying how cars must be built too, but it isn't my job to care about that, I just inform. Edit: They don't actually sell the Cybertruck here in Sweden though. Hmm. Maybe just a quick e-mail. Edit: There are seems to be some hoax claims. I guess if that's true, that's defamation from the rapper instead. Very stupid in the case.

josephcsible 1y ago

This was faked. He made a video of the Cybertruck UI with his message over it and played it in fullscreen with the car parked but fully operable.