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Chestnut – eGPU dock with open-source firmware

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Re: Chestnut – eGPU dock with open-source firmware

#31

Post by gip »

itomato wrote: post #4
socratics wrote: post #3

I find comma.ai’s work pretty fascinating compared to the bigger fish in the self-driving world. There’s something quite human about it versus the Waymo’s and Tesla’s of the world.

If you liked that, you should look into tinygrad

I’m impressed by tinygrad. Full-featured deep-learning framework with ZERO dependencies, fully hackable, and orders of magnitude fewer LoC than PyTorch.

Want to run Qwen3.8 27B? Download the quantized model from HF, git clone tinygrad, then run `DEV=METAL python3 -m tinygrad.llm --max_context 8192 -m `. Read the code and experiment - takes 1 minute.

Compare that with PyTorch (great, but almost impossible to comprehend and modify, IMO) or Mojo/MAX (complex and not even fully open source, not to mention that the Modular folks aren’t particularly nice). Tinygrad is a breath of fresh air.

Re: Chestnut – eGPU dock with open-source firmware

#33

Post by buildbot »

Gracana wrote: post #28
reustle wrote: post #22

The direct eGPU link if you're curious https://comma.ai/shop/chestnut

I'm surprised that it's pretty much the same as the adapters you can get on aliexpress. Not even a case to protect it from feet in the passenger footwell. Especially compared to the windshield-mount unit, which looks like a very slick product. I suppose they can always improve it if there is interest in this first version.

Very much my own opinion, but this continues comma’s extremely cavalier attitude towards safety. PCIe connectors and GPUs are not vibration rated. What happens when you hit a bad pothole?

Re: Chestnut – eGPU dock with open-source firmware

#34

Post by 14u2c »

Gracana wrote: post #28
reustle wrote: post #22

The direct eGPU link if you're curious https://comma.ai/shop/chestnut

I'm surprised that it's pretty much the same as the adapters you can get on aliexpress. Not even a case to protect it from feet in the passenger footwell. Especially compared to the windshield-mount unit, which looks like a very slick product. I suppose they can always improve it if there is interest in this first version.

I had a similar thought, but I suppose they decided to prioritize price on the assumption that initial adopters are handy enough to fashion an enclosure if they’d like one. Not a terrible assumption.

Re: Chestnut – eGPU dock with open-source firmware

#35

Post by LoganDark »

gip wrote: post #31
itomato wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you liked that, you should look into tinygrad

I’m impressed by tinygrad. Full-featured deep-learning framework with ZERO dependencies, fully hackable, and orders of magnitude fewer LoC than PyTorch. Want to run Qwen3.8 27B? Download the quantized model from HF, git clone tinygrad, then run `DEV=METAL python3 -m tinygrad.llm --max_context 8192 -m `. Read the code and experiment - takes 1 minute. Compare that with PyTorch (great, but almost impossible to comprehen…

"Zero dependencies" except Python, which is a pretty huge dependency.

Re: Chestnut – eGPU dock with open-source firmware

#36

Post by hypfer »

dermacentor wrote: post #29
bellowsgulch wrote: post #14

Two things: 1. they have a cheap fuse (cents on the dollar) that’s not automotive-grade so your windshield mounted device fails in hot weather and doesn’t last past the hardware warranty. Known issue, doubt they ever fixed it. 2. 1B parameter model to stay between two lines. Why. Waste of time. Their product hasn’t actually changed in several years because they will never advance past lane keeping SAE Level 2. I susp…

You're not paying $1,000 for a cut down Android when you buy a Comma Four. What you're buying is an entry ticket to Comma-land — where dozens of car models are supported, pre-made harnesses are just a buy button away, and everything is open source. If George had chosen to go the closed source route, you might be paying $200 for a locked-down device and $200 every month for a mandatory subscription. Which one makes yo…

Comma-land?

Comma on, man.

Re: Chestnut – eGPU dock with open-source firmware

#37

Post by LorenDB »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #26
Gys wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understood, when I looked into it a while ago, some car makers use an encrypted ODB2 (needed by Comma.ai to communicate driving instructions). See for example: https://autel.us/security-gateways/ , 'Automakers with security gateways installed include Stellantis (Dodge, Chrysler, Ram, Alfa Romeo, FIAT, and Maserati), Nissan and Infinity, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen and Audi.'

None of those busses are encrypted (at least not the majority I am familiar with). The security gateway is just a firewall.

Toyota TSS3 is in fact encrypted; openpilot users who have TSS3 have to manually extract decryption keys from their cars to be able to talk on the CAN bus.

Re: Chestnut – eGPU dock with open-source firmware

#38

Post by Gracana »

14u2c wrote: post #34
Gracana wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised that it's pretty much the same as the adapters you can get on aliexpress. Not even a case to protect it from feet in the passenger footwell. Especially compared to the windshield-mount unit, which looks like a very slick product. I suppose they can always improve it if there is interest in this first version.

I had a similar thought, but I suppose they decided to prioritize price on the assumption that initial adopters are handy enough to fashion an enclosure if they’d like one. Not a terrible assumption.

Yeah, of all the parts to leave a out, sorting out a little enclosure is certainly the easiest and most likely to require customization.

Re: Chestnut – eGPU dock with open-source firmware

#39

Post by rustcleaner »

LorenDB wrote: post #37
SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of those busses are encrypted (at least not the majority I am familiar with). The security gateway is just a firewall.

Toyota TSS3 is in fact encrypted; openpilot users who have TSS3 have to manually extract decryption keys from their cars to be able to talk on the CAN bus.

How abhorrent and disgusting of Toyota! >:^(

Re: Chestnut – eGPU dock with open-source firmware

#40

Post by gymbeaux »

Gracana wrote: post #28
reustle wrote: post #22

The direct eGPU link if you're curious https://comma.ai/shop/chestnut

I'm surprised that it's pretty much the same as the adapters you can get on aliexpress. Not even a case to protect it from feet in the passenger footwell. Especially compared to the windshield-mount unit, which looks like a very slick product. I suppose they can always improve it if there is interest in this first version.

It’s an incredibly dumb implementation and it feels like yet another case of “AI startup gettin’ while the gettin’s good”. It’s the dotcom bubble all over again. Do anything with AI and people will buy what you’re selling.

The RX 9060 has a TDP of 160W, but that’s the high end of what you can continuously draw from the 12v DC plug in a car, so it looks like they cap it at 100W. It has to be on the floor or under the passenger seat because it has to plug into that 12v outlet that’s usually in the front.

Things will get caught by the fan blades, and passengers will inadvertently kick it. Hopefully suddenly losing connection to the GPU won’t cause the car to hit a pedestrian or anything like that.

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