Tesla is working hard to make sure you never have to steer again. Meanwhile, some owners are coming up with new ways to steer anyway.
Automotive cybersecurity researcher Matthew KuKanich shared a video on Reddit of himself controlling his Tesla with a Nintendo Switch 2. According to KuKanich, his setup gives him “full access to vehicle functions,” including steering, the accelerator and brakes, turn signals, the horn, shifting, and the windshield wipers.
How It Works
KuKanich didn’t hack the Tesla itself. Instead, he jailbroke a Switch 2 and wrote a custom app called CAN Commander that sends commands to the car through its CAN bus, the internal network its components use to talk to each other.
“I built the custom Switch 2 software and the external CAN control system for my Tesla,” KuKanich explained on X.
The app maps each car function to the Switch’s controls. The left stick steers, ZR accelerates, ZL brakes, and A switches between Drive and Reverse. L and R activate the turn signals, X gives a single wipe, and Y sounds the horn. The app also pulls live data from the car and shows it on screen, including speed, steering angle, the current gear, and a connection status. KuKanich says it includes several safety features, and you have to hold B to exit.
In the video, the car stays parked while KuKanich moves the left stick and the Tesla’s steering wheel turns to match, with the turn signals blinking on cue.
Driving my Car with a Switch 2
by u/Martarts in switch2hacks
Not His First Controller
KuKanich has done this before. He’s controlled his Tesla with an Xbox controller and even a Wii Remote, which supported motion controls so the steering wheel turned as he tilted the controller. Some of his videos even show his novel steering experiments in action on the road.
It’s a fun project for a car that’s increasingly designed to drive itself. Tesla’s Robotaxi service now runs 24/7 in every city it operates in, and the purpose-built Cybercab doesn’t even have a steering wheel.
A game controller works fine for steering, at least until stick drift kicks in. KuKanich hasn’t released the code for his project yet but said he may upload it to his GitHub page. Even if he does, this is clearly a cool research project and not something to take onto public roads.
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