How A Car Got Hacked To Be More Fun

With toys and games such as Cubetto and Code Quest being released, it's no doubt that programming is increasingly becoming a skill that's taught at an early age.

If we're teaching kids computer programming to solve problems and create things, it would be great to encourage them to be able to contribute to the betterment of humankind. Like programming helper robots. Or solving the mysteries of time and space.

Or how about turning a family car into a giant Mario Kart controller?

Some awesomely geeky friends decided to hack a car, not for any ill intent, but to have a load of fun while competing in HackIllinois (you guessed it, some kind of hacking competition in Illinois, USA). By connecting a small Raspberry Pi computer to a car's on-board diagnostics system, and writing some clever code to communicate with the car, they were able to convert the steering wheel and other buttons into a controller to play one of the most loved racing games of all time: MarioKart 64!

Not only was the hack successful but it also went on to win the HackIllinois competition!

So next time you begin to teach your kids how to code, it's probably a good idea to encourage them to use their 'hacking powers' for the greater good and not evil, and to make things more awesome for everyone!

Read more about the project