Tesla Radar

Aug 2019

1 min read

Bluetooth Low Energy BLE privacy Tesla PhoneKey automotive

Tesla cars with enabled ‘Phone Key’ feature transmit a unique identifier, that can be detected using Bluetooth® Wireless Technology. By installing this app, your device becomes aware of Tesla vehicles in its proximity. The gathered data is shared in order to generate a global crowd-sourced heatmap of detectable Tesla cars.

TeslaRadar is the name of the Android app that is freely available in the Google Play store.

Project Background

The Tesla Radar project aims to sensitize a broader public about the issue, that newer Tesla vehicles can be spotted by anyone with a Bluetooth radio or smartphone. The detected ID is unique to the vehicle and the respective drivers, cannot be de-activated and does not change over time.

With introducing gamification features in December 2019, the app gained some popularity among people that are interested in Tesla, its technology and its rapid growth in the last years.

External Resources

This project has its own website. Check it out on teslaradar.com

The Tesla Radar app is freely available in the Google Play Store

Seth Rosenblatt wrote an article about TeslaRadar on The Parallax in 2019.

People Involved

For questions about this vulberability, feel free to ask Martin Herfurt.

Martin is an independent security researcher focusing - but not exclusively - on various aspects of product security related to Bluetooth wireless technology. As one of the co-founders of the trifinite.group, Martin worked with the Bluetooth SIG, helping the technology and its adopters overcome early design and implementation issues.