Tesla drivers are some of the most avid car owners on the road: They give programmable names to their continuously evolving electric autos, park them in secluded spots so as not to be dinged, and generally treat them like beloved pets. But the symbiosis between vehicle and driver that Tesla owners achieve usually stops when it comes to breaking the skin barrier. That, however, is not the case with one brave software engineer. Just ask the Tesla key chip she has implanted in her arm.
In the clip above, which we first spotted on Futurism, “magical unicorn software engineer” Aimee DD describes the process of taking an RFID chip from her Tesla valet key card and inserting it into her arm. It’s not an unprecedented move — we’ve even seen people implant Iron Man “arc reactors” in their hands before — but this is a unique circumstance in that Tesla in no way designed the valet key chip to be inserted into human flesh. Which makes it seem like the risk factor here is even higher than with normal biohacking procedures.
Aimee gives a step-by-step outline of how she was able to take the Tesla key card and make it implantable. She notes she needed to dissolve the key card in acetone to get the RFID chip out and subsequently place it in a human-safe biopolymer. (By the way, watching a Tesla key card peel and curl in acetone may make you feel weird.)
The video stops before Aimee has the chip implanted in her arm. That’s great ’cause that would be a real macabre sight to behold. So let’s just be thankful that… oh wait, here’s a follow-up video that shows that procedure exactly. And it’s bloody. Needless to say, this is somewhat NSFW.
Unfortunately we don’t get to see the implanted key chip in action in either video. However Aimee has said on Twitter that it most definitely works — presumably meaning that it can open her Tesla as well as start it up. No word on how long Aimee plans on keeping her Tesla, but we’ll go ahead and bet she won’t buy another brand of vehicle any time soon.
Why didn’t I post a video of the chip working with my car the day I got it? 1. I was at @defcon this weekend! 2. My arm was swollen right after(none of my other chip implants read the first few days). I may have upgrades but unfortunately my body still heals at a human rate lol! pic.twitter.com/WKHogGKqmE
— Amie DD (@amiedoubleD) August 13, 2019
What do you think of this Tesla key card implantation? Would you ever implant any kind of RFID chip in your body? Let us know in the comments!
Images: Amiee DD
