Summary
Whether it’s to make more money or because of licensing disagreements, car companies often restrict the abilities of the infotainment units in their vehicles. They can do so much more, and a group of hackers is setting the Gen5W systems from Hyundai free with NEMESIS. Many Hyundai and Kia vehicles from 2015 to 2019 use the Gen5W system, but there are some exceptions to the exploit like the Hyundai Elantra, Kia Forte, and Hyundai Ioniq 6, along with Canadian vehicles using the system. The most interesting feature for most users will likely be the ability to use Android Auto or Apple CarPlay wirelessly as well as bringing turn-by-turn navigation cues from those systems to the driver cluster and heads up display like you get with the built-in, but not so great, OEM navigation system. Using a flaw in the over the air (OTA) update system, the developer says “the version must have S5W_M in it (General Settings > SW Info). S5W_L is not supported.” The head unit must also be one that supports OTA updates as otherwise it won’t have the appropriate logic to exploit. We’ve seen hacks of various infotainment systems before including older Hyundai systems and Teslas. Few missing points here:
- It adds support all the way up to some vehicles for 2024.
- It also includes (and the reason for the hack in the first place) is the ability to precondition the battery in your Gen5W EV6, Niro, Ioniq 5, and a few others if I recall correctly. HMG never opted to bring this feature to older vehicles, suggesting buying a newer car with the feature instead. I hoped this day would come and I banked on it when I bought my 2022 EV6, and lo and behold, that day has come. I am incredibly nervous about installing this on my own vehicle. I phoned a friend and told him to tell me “Tell me it’s a bad idea to jailbreak my car” and while he was explaining why, I had to stop him to say “No, just say the damn words” I don’t have another vehicle in case this goes horribly wrong. Maybe a few years down the line. Maybe once it’s paid off. It appears to support my 2023 ioniq 5, but I Know, If I screw this up, I’m out money I don’t have. it’s a bad idea to jailbreak your car