A few days ago, a Tesla owner had taken to Reddit to show that his Tesla Model 3 had received a warning notification from the Tesla OS, saying that an unknown modification had been detected in his vehicle, and there was a risk of potential damage or shutdown. This apparently had come up after the owner had bought the Boost50 package from Ingenext, a company that sells third-party software for Tesla owners to unlock performance upgrades in their system. Now, it has been reported that Ingenext has come up with their own hack for this.
Hacker Came Up With New “Module” To Bypass Tesla Warning And Unlock Paid Performance Upgrades
There have been many debates regarding whether one should opt for the performance upgrades that Ingenext offers to unlock boosts in their Tesla. Many people thought that installing these upgrades from a third-party company opens the possibility of voiding the warranty and making their car susceptible to potential risk – not a particularly good option just to save a few hundred bucks. On the other hand, it does seem funny that the OS is warning the owner against the risk of this upgrade when Tesla themselves offer the same upgrade (albeit at a cost $900 more than what Ingenext offers).
Some Tesla owners feel that they should be given the liberty of doing what they want with their vehicle, without the company interfering. This has started a huge discussion regarding third-party software installation in cars, especially when you own a car that has huge software capabilities like Tesla. Both parties have put forth interesting points, and there does not seem to be any clear path to be followed.
Ingenext performance upgrades
Tesla has often been considered as a tech company than an automobile company. They tend to have more sophisticated hardware in their vehicles, and then lock it using their software versions, which can later be upgraded to get performance boosts. Hence, it is not uncommon to see a 75-kWh battery pack in a Tesla, of which only 60 kWh is available to the owner.
Ingenext, on the other hand, is a company that was started in May 2020 by Guillaume André. This company offers its customers software upgrades equivalent to what Tesla offers, and they do so at a lower price. The upgrade in focus right not is the Boost50 that Ingenext offers at $1100 to its customers. Through this upgrade, Tesla owners can unlock the Acceleration Boost, which increases peak power by 50 bhp, peak torque by 12%, and reduces 0 to 60 mph (96.5 kph) from 4.4 to 3.9 seconds. This Acceleration Boost, when bought from Tesla, costs $2000. Apart from this, Ingenext also offers other features like Drift Mode, battery pre-warming and ‘open door on arrival’ in the Boost50 package, making it even more attractive for potential customers.
Tesla tried to block the Boost 50 Module in his last update 2020.32…nice try! Existing customers will receive an update. Still available for purchase. 🙂
Dikirim oleh Ingenext pada Jumat, 28 Agustus 2020
After the warning message went viral on Reddit, there were speculations that Ingenext would come with their own hack to solve this problem, and indeed they have. The only glitch is that Ingenext was unable to counter it through a software update, so they have brought out a new hardware module, which contains the fix for the warning message.
Named as Bonus Module, this offers a variety of new features for the customers such as:
- Heated rear seat control with a web application or rear window switches.
- Ambient lights.
- Automatic driver door opening.
- Automatic frunk and trunk opening with proximity sensors.
- Drift mode.
- Battery pack heating.
- Manual wiper control.
- Live data of state-of-health estimation, voltage, current, energy, and temperature of the battery.
This Bonus Module will be shipped out to all existing Boost50 customers for free and will be sold separately with the package for new customers. Using this, Ingenext is trying to boost their business through customer satisfaction and newer features, assuring everyone that buying their upgrades will not put your Tesla at any risk.
This has given the cat-and-mouse game between Tesla and Ingenext some more push, with the ball now in Tesla’s court. Many people on Tesla’s side in this squabble are arguing that, with the inclusion of the Bonus Module, Ingenext upgrades cost almost 75-80% of the official Tesla upgrade (exact cost unknown yet). While Ingenext does offer some new features, buying virtually the same package at a slightly lower cost and increasing the possibility of a voided warranty seems less attractive than it did before.
Ingenext may try to market their product on their new features that are not offered by Tesla, but this will appeal to a lesser group now. There may be auto fanatics who love to keep modifying their car in a bid to make it more unique, but the average customer cares more about being insured through the warranty bracket than about cooler features. In my opinion, Ingenext will either have to bring in more attractive features or reduce their cost if they are to stay ahead in this game. The fact remains that Tesla might just have managed to sway many people in their favor by just putting up a warning message.
