None of the others in town have these, thought it was unusual enough to share
this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2023
156 points (90.2% liked)
things that are mildlyinteresting
677 readers
1 users here now
post things that are mildly interesting
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Do you know how it works? Doesn't seem to be electronic or so... Perhaps mechanical magnet based or so
There's a talk at DEFCON on YouTube about hacking them. Great way to see how it works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iprBprAFXCk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QKcprQD0zc
It's a fancier version of the electric dog collars. If you go over a perimeter line it'll turn on a parking brake for that one wheel.
Probably an electrical fence type deal. When the signal gets too weak the pins pop out to prevent the wheel from rotating. Didn't park near the edge of the property to test it lol
But what powers the wheels? Charged by spinning? What happens if they don't get used long and the wheel dies.
By spinning yes, they operate mostly passively and therefore last a long time, including by having terrible security to save battery life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iprBprAFXCk