How to invoke Apple CarPlay?

Silkrip

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Joined
May 11, 2022
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59
Cars
Lucid Air Grand Touring
Received a couple of OTA updates for my Lucid Air GT, and saw some publicity about Apple CarPlay running on a Lucid. If it's true that the feature is now in the car, how do I activate it and use it? Yes, I have an iPhone, and I often use Apple CarPlay in my wife's Kia Niro EV, so I assume I have to plug my iPhone into the USB port, but I didn't see anything on the Lucid menus. Would really appreciate someone providing some guidance on this to an unsavvy owner. Thanks!
 
I can’t remember if the Audi MMI allows data directly through USB ports or not. I’m thinking not and it’s probably why they have an SD card reader in the car. If they could guarantee a way of only allowing mass storage devices to be read through the USB port then this would help solve the security issue problem.

If Lucid can’t be 100% sure that a device can’t be blocked through USB then I can see why it’s restricted. There’s too much risk that someone can access the cars computer / software and mess with things they shouldn’t be. I wouldn’t be surprised that NHSTA has regulations when it comes to how secure / locked down a car must be as well.
 
Why is Lucid worried and other car makers not? My F250, SL550 and XT5 all have USB ports that transfer information just fine.
 
Why is Lucid worried and other car makers not? My F250, SL550 and XT5 all have USB ports that transfer information just fine.
Because your F250, SL550 and XT5 are not EVs with high voltage systems.
 
It's because they didn't want anyone hacking into their systems through a wired connection.
This will probable expose my innocence of most things tech, but two thoughts occur:

1) Hackers don't need to be hard-wired to hack, and
2) Certainly (?) there's a way to hive off the the rest of the car's tech from the audio system....
 
This will probable expose my innocence of most things tech, but two thoughts occur:

1) Hackers don't need to be hard-wired to hack, and
2) Certainly (?) there's a way to hive off the the rest of the car's tech from the audio system....
Sure, you're right; you do not need a wired connection to attack a device. However, when you open up USB access you have far more surface area to deal with; the USB protocol itself, device drivers, etc. By limiting what a user has access to (theoretically) you decrease obvious surface area, and thus 'defend' by making access difficult. It's not a great solution, but as a stop-gap measure, there's no problem with it.

Likely also the same reason it doesn't presently provide a hotspot for phones within the car.
 
Why is Lucid worried and other car makers not? My F250, SL550 and XT5 all have USB ports that transfer information just fine.
The other cars have Infotainment mostly as addon accessory; Lucid is doing vertical intergration making all critical subsystems themselves rather than outsourced to third world countries. And those subsystems are tied up by the main software integrates and controls everything which is currently already show some sign of sluggishness. Software that integrate so much can be very vulnerable. Closest analogy I can think of is “Don’t put all eggs in one basket.” If they already do, make sure that basket is covered and not exposed.
 
Sure, you're right; you do not need a wired connection to attack a device. However, when you open up USB access you have far more surface area to deal with; the USB protocol itself, device drivers, etc. By limiting what a user has access to (theoretically) you decrease obvious surface area, and thus 'defend' by making access difficult. It's not a great solution, but as a stop-gap measure, there's no problem with it.

Likely also the same reason it doesn't presently provide a hotspot for phones within the car.
Got it...I think...but you're saying they don't have confidence in their security protocols?
 
I can’t remember if the Audi MMI allows data directly through USB ports or not. I’m thinking not and it’s probably why they have an SD card reader in the car. If they could guarantee a way of only allowing mass storage devices to be read through the USB port then this would help solve the security issue problem.

If Lucid can’t be 100% sure that a device can’t be blocked through USB then I can see why it’s restricted. There’s too much risk that someone can access the cars computer / software and mess with things they shouldn’t be. I wouldn’t be surprised that NHSTA has regulations when it comes to how secure / locked down a car must be as well.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are greater risks, IMHO.
 
Got it...I think...but you're saying they don't have confidence in their security protocols?
I wouldn’t say they don’t have confidence, but are simply practicing defense in depth. Perhaps they are waiting to verify their software isn’t vulnerable via a penetration test or two, who knows.
 
I consider it a good thing that someone on the software team at some point said to their manager “Look, if we’re going to be shipping to customers by the end of 2021, I can’t guarantee we’ll have the USB ports 100% secure by then” and management actually listened.
 
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are greater risks, IMHO.
Sure. Bluetooth and WiFi are two more vectors of attack. But shipping a car without those in 2022 is not feasible. So you defend those and save your resources by cutting off USB entirely.
 
We’re there not reports many months ago of Lucid Airs being bought by Ford, Gm and Tesla? I would think they have already taken the Airs apart piece by piece to see how they work. The idea that these competitors need a simple USB port to get inside the software is a bit naive.
 
We’re there not reports many months ago of Lucid Airs being bought by Ford, Gm and Tesla? I would think they have already taken the Airs apart piece by piece to see how they work. The idea that these competitors need a simple USB port to get inside the software is a bit naive.
I think it was Tesla had Lucid in their newest Gigafactory being benchmarked.
 
We’re there not reports many months ago of Lucid Airs being bought by Ford, Gm and Tesla? I would think they have already taken the Airs apart piece by piece to see how they work. The idea that these competitors need a simple USB port to get inside the software is a bit naive.
There are a lot more people than competitors who like to hack into things.
 
If someone with the right resources wants into your computer system badly enough, they will get in. The least you can do is not make it easy for them. Limit it to the highly skilled hackers, as opposed to the weekend warriors who will break into stuff for a cheap thrill because they are bored.
 
Sure. Bluetooth and WiFi are two more vectors of attack. But shipping a car without those in 2022 is not feasible. So you defend those and save your resources by cutting off USB entirely.
The risk is how data is moved among the different busses and applications and how memory is managed. I don't think that USB devices pose an extra risk.
 
Just got the Air and I'm perplexed by something...undoubtedly due to a lack of knowledge. Unlike the car the Air is replacing, it appears the Air does not have its own IP address that I can see and access. Is that correct?

If that is correct, what does the car use to receive navigation information such as traffic....or internet based features in the car like Spotify, Tidal, etc. Bluetooth? [Hmmm....next time I use the car I will shut the phone down and see what happens to navigation]. Or is it some proprietary, non-accessible, unknown to owners method of accessing the information. But if the car has something like that, why do I need to connect to a wi-fi for downloads. I'm guessing everything is through bluetooth.

Thank you in advance from this technology challenged retiree.
 
Just got the Air and I'm perplexed by something...undoubtedly due to a lack of knowledge. Unlike the car the Air is replacing, it appears the Air does not have its own IP address that I can see and access. Is that correct?

If that is correct, what does the car use to receive navigation information such as traffic....or internet based features in the car like Spotify, Tidal, etc. Bluetooth? [Hmmm....next time I use the car I will shut the phone down and see what happens to navigation]. Or is it some proprietary, non-accessible, unknown to owners method of accessing the information. But if the car has something like that, why do I need to connect to a wi-fi for downloads. I'm guessing everything is through bluetooth.

Thank you in advance from this technology challenged retiree.
I’m pretty sure the Software has APIs to get more motors, battery and internet bandwidth information. Right now they are making it very black box for anyone to access and competitor to able study their technology easily. They are being very protective of their proprietary technology and information sharing. That doesn’t just reflect in AIR, it also is reflected in how employees communicate with customers.
 
Just got the Air and I'm perplexed by something...undoubtedly due to a lack of knowledge. Unlike the car the Air is replacing, it appears the Air does not have its own IP address that I can see and access. Is that correct?

If that is correct, what does the car use to receive navigation information such as traffic....or internet based features in the car like Spotify, Tidal, etc. Bluetooth? [Hmmm....next time I use the car I will shut the phone down and see what happens to navigation]. Or is it some proprietary, non-accessible, unknown to owners method of accessing the information. But if the car has something like that, why do I need to connect to a wi-fi for downloads. I'm guessing everything is through bluetooth.

Thank you in advance from this technology challenged retiree.
When the car is on, it does have its own IP - it uses the internet to communicate, but a lot of its traffic is over websockets, so you may not see it through a standard proxy or anything like that. But otherwise it is just like any other internet device.
 
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