Tesla is launching their developer APIs • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla is launching their developer APIs

#101

Post by amelius » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 7:41 PM UTC

yreg wrote: post #98

amelius wrote: post #89

The most important question: Can I use the car as intended without dealing with the vendor (Tesla)? If not => it's a service, not a product.

Not the most important question since it has nothing to do with the fleet developer API. But yes, if you are fine with not using Superchargers (which would be insane) or the built-in internet then you don't need to deal with the vendor after purchasing the car.

The whole point is that these services could be provided by other service-providers. This is like a car of brand X that only accepts fuel of brand X (except now it is a service like internet or an API).

(No pun intended with the X)

Re: Tesla is launching their developer APIs

#102

Post by modeless » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 7:43 PM UTC

ejlxsh wrote: post #7

I cannot wait for HackerOne or similar bug bounty sites to have a go with this https://developer.tesla.com/docs/fleet-api#door_unlock Oh my god, what a cool sounding endpoint https://developer.tesla.com/docs/fleet-api#set_bioweapon_mod... Edit: This is coming up to EOL, Tesla has an SDK you should use now

These or equivalent APIs have been available and unofficially documented and used by third parties for many, many years. And Tesla has been doing Pwn2Own and bug bounties for a long time.

Re: Tesla is launching their developer APIs

#103

Post by tannedNerd » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 7:45 PM UTC

michaelmrose wrote: post #67

zeryx wrote: post #14

I can't wait for the opposite of this; Tesla App Store will be an insane value-add feature; for both owners and app developers.

Can you give a singular example

I would love Overcast. The podcast app sucks and the dev has mentioned he would probably do it if they released an SDK.

Re: Tesla is launching their developer APIs

#104

Post by modeless » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 7:47 PM UTC

wedn3sday wrote: post #45

I take it as a sign of the current state of hackernews that nearly no one took the time to actually RTFA. This isnt about making apps that run on the car, this is about being able to integrate your external apps with the fleet API. Like, can external app that has permission would be able to locate the vehicle. That said, I think the security implications are fairly important, since I expect one of the exposed feature…

Almost all of this functionality has been available for many years through the reverse engineered API used by the official Tesla app. There is unofficial third party documentation and many third party apps using it are available.

The difference here is that Tesla is creating a new, officially supported API explicitly for third parties, with official documentation, scoped authentication, and a developer program that requires registration (and in the future, payment). Presumably once the SDK is finalized they will start cracking down on apps using the older reverse engineered API.

The only new functionality AFAIK is a push API that allows cars to directly stream information to your server via their cellular connection; previously the information was available but required polling through Tesla's intermediary servers.

Re: Tesla is launching their developer APIs

#105

Post by tannedNerd » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 7:47 PM UTC

The charging api end points are also interesting here. I imagine thats it will get more fleshed out for the all the other manufactures in the US to start using the superchargers.

Re: Tesla is launching their developer APIs

#106

Post by modeless » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 7:50 PM UTC

brandensilva wrote: post #30

I wish they'd do the same for their solar panels. Trying to get to that solar panel data seems much harder than it should be.

Does this not include solar? I know Powerwall was part of the older API.

Re: Tesla is launching their developer APIs

#107

Post by modeless » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 7:53 PM UTC

yuliyp wrote: post #72

The capabilities of the vehicle_commands section are frighteningly diverse (able to control details of the charging systems, make noises, remotely prevent the car from moving, plug locations into the GPS (unclear if that'll cause autopilot to start moving there). I guess this means that the remote parts have basically unrestricted access to what they can do to the car that you theoretically own. Fun times.

If you don't like it there is a toggle in the car to turn off remote access entirely. You can leave it off permanently if you want. If that's not enough for you then feel free to also remove the SIM card from the computer.

Re: Tesla is launching their developer APIs

#108

Post by verve_rat » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 7:53 PM UTC

zoover2020 wrote: post #96

londons_explore wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they have bricked peoples cars directly... They just take away the ability to do supercharging and to use the app. Basically, your smart car becomes a dumb car. But you can still drive it - you just can't use any service that requires their servers.

What you just described is bricking then, no?

No. To brick something means to take away all functionality, to make it as functional as a brick.

Re: Tesla is launching their developer APIs

#109

Post by zedpm » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 7:59 PM UTC

I'm glad to see they didn't forget about HTTP 418[0] in their response code docs[1].

[0]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Status/418

[1]: https://developer.tesla.com/docs/fleet-api#response-codes

Re: Tesla is launching their developer APIs

#110

Post by braza » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 8:01 PM UTC

Non related question: there are some examples of good public APIs docs? I would like to develop a product that serves an API but it’s very hard to get a great API as template.