diff --git a/common/util.cc b/common/util.cc
index 5ffd6e4099f27b..f4c69eb269f6d0 100644
--- a/common/util.cc
+++ b/common/util.cc
@@ -255,6 +255,29 @@ bool ends_with(const std::string& s, const std::string& suffix) {
          strcmp(s.c_str() + (s.size() - suffix.size()), suffix.c_str()) == 0;
 }
 
+std::string strip(const std::string &str) {
+  auto should_trim = [](unsigned char ch) {
+    // trim whitespace or a null character
+    return std::isspace(ch) || ch == '\0';
+  };
+
+  size_t start = 0;
+  while (start < str.size() && should_trim(static_cast<unsigned char>(str[start]))) {
+    start++;
+  }
+
+  if (start == str.size()) {
+    return "";
+  }
+
+  size_t end = str.size() - 1;
+  while (end > 0 && should_trim(static_cast<unsigned char>(str[end]))) {
+    end--;
+  }
+
+  return str.substr(start, end - start + 1);
+}
+
 std::string check_output(const std::string& command) {
   char buffer[128];
   std::string result;
diff --git a/common/util.h b/common/util.h
index 7cfa008509e258..d4106b50028ca4 100644
--- a/common/util.h
+++ b/common/util.h
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ float getenv(const char* key, float default_val);
 std::string hexdump(const uint8_t* in, const size_t size);
 bool starts_with(const std::string &s1, const std::string &s2);
 bool ends_with(const std::string &s, const std::string &suffix);
+std::string strip(const std::string &str);
 
 // ***** random helpers *****
 int random_int(int min, int max);
diff --git a/system/hardware/tici/hardware.h b/system/hardware/tici/hardware.h
index da89bb9002a052..fcfb07830a4b41 100644
--- a/system/hardware/tici/hardware.h
+++ b/system/hardware/tici/hardware.h
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include <cstdlib>
+#include <cassert>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <map>
 #include <string>
@@ -22,7 +23,7 @@ class HardwareTici : public HardwareNone {
 
   static std::string get_name() {
     std::string model = util::read_file("/sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model");
-    return model.substr(std::string("comma ").size());
+    return util::strip(model.substr(std::string("comma ").size()));
   }
 
   static cereal::InitData::DeviceType get_device_type() {
@@ -32,7 +33,8 @@ class HardwareTici : public HardwareNone {
       {"mici", cereal::InitData::DeviceType::MICI}
     };
     auto it = device_map.find(get_name());
-    return it != device_map.end() ? it->second : cereal::InitData::DeviceType::UNKNOWN;
+    assert(it != device_map.end());
+    return it->second;
   }
 
   static int get_voltage() { return std::atoi(util::read_file("/sys/class/hwmon/hwmon1/in1_input").c_str()); }