First iPhone Hacker Open Sources Code And Hardware Of His Self-driving Car

Short Bytes: The first iPhone hacker, George Hotz, has open sourced his self-driving car project comma.ai. The code of his autonomous car project and its hardware platform is now available on GitHub. Apparently, he has taken this step after receiving threats of huge fines from the US Department of Transport.

If you keep a close eye on the security world and the latest developments happening around us, you might be knowing about George Hotz. He is regarded as the first iPhone hacker, better known as Geohot. His desire to make calls from his own network on the newly released iPhone, probably, inspired him to jailbreak it.

In December 2015, we told you about his new hobby that involved taking on Google, Tesla, and automotive companies that are working on autonomous vehicles. Back then, he took a 2015 Acura ILX and converted it into a self-driving car.

Apparently, last month his comma.ai startup came to an end when he revealed that he got threats of massive lumps of fines from the US Department of Transport.

Would much rather spend my life building amazing tech than dealing with regulators and lawyers. It isn't worth it. -GH 2/3

— comma (@comma_ai) October 28, 2016

Now, instead of trying to fight the regulators, he has decided to give it away. comma.ai has open sourced its software and hardware on GitHub. The open source hardware platform is called Comma Neo.

Open sourced openpilot, an open source alternative to autopilot. And the plans for the NEO, a robotics platform. https://t.co/b5028Olf1u

— comma (@comma_ai) November 30, 2016

At the moment, the open source software of comma.ai enables adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assist. This software applies to certain Acura and Honda models. comma.ai claims that its systems are “on par with Tesla Autopilot at launch.”

Hotz also plans to actively work and encourage the people to build their own self-driving kits. He also calls it an alpha software that’s for research purposes.

You can take a look at comm.ai’s open source project on GitHub.

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