Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

"As an example of the kinds of complicated processing the ECU does, he noted that there is a 12KB block of code that is used to ensure the tachometer always shows 780 RPM when the car is idling. Even though the engine is not that steady, car owners want to see that value hold steady at idle, so car makers effectively lie to satisfy them. Domke said that it is clear that lots of different kinds of cheating is going on in the ECU and noted that the speedometer doesn't really show the speed of the vehicle, just something related to it."

Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh

Sharing this fantastic article (via my subscription to lwn.net) about how VW gamed the NOx emissions. It details why the testing regime is completely unrealistic and how the ECU [electronic control unit] works to control the car engine and, in this case, how it detects that the car is being tested for emissions. "In an interesting presentation [video link] at the 32nd Chaos Communication Congress (32C3) held at the end of December, Daniel Lange and Felix Domke gave a detailed look into the Volkswagen emissions scandal—from the technical side. Lange gave an overview of the industry, the testing regime, and the regulatory side in the first half, while Domke presented the results of his reverse-engineering effort on the code in the engine electronic control unit (ECU), as well as tests he ran on his own affected VW car. The presentation and accompanying slides [PDF] provide far more detail than has previously been available.

Lange is a former BMW engineer who now runs his own consulting company. Domke is an independent security researcher who became curious about how the code inside his car was gaming the emissions testing.
[...]
Overall, it is an interesting "detective story" of sorts, but it also shows just how much is going on behind the scenes in our cars and other devices we rely on every day. Even in a highly regulated industry like automobiles, though, there is plenty of wiggle room for companies to try to outcompete other car makers—or to outfox regulators. It is unclear how widespread this kind of cheating is in the industry, but it seems likely we will hear about more of this kind of chicanery in coming years."
https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/670488/99913d767112c8da/

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