Hacked - 1

When the Volkswagen emission scandal broke out last year, it brought out the dangers of more and more software being put in the good old automobile. But that was a case of deliberately writing software to fool the emission test.

Then there’s Tesla, the company that made electric cars sexy, not just a car for those who care about the environment. How extensively its cars use software can be best described by these lines from Ashlee Vance’s book:

“While the owner slept, Tesla’s engineers tapped into the car via the Internet connection and downloaded software updates. When the customer took the car out for a spin in the morning and found it working right, he was left feeling as if magical elves had done the work.”

Or as Bruce Schneier wrote:

“A modern car isn't an automobile with a computer in it. It's a computer with four wheels and an engine.”

It does sound like magic, right?

Until the software gets hacked, that is. Then we realize Paul Sherwood’s point on the risks in our willingness to “travel far, at great speeds, in metal boxes that are entirely operated via software”. One guy commented:

“We already have ransomware. I predict we will soon have hostageware. The doors lock, The A/C is turned off and heater turned full blast on a hot summer day. A nefarious digital voice comes over your radio speakers telling you to log into your bank account now and transfer all your money to them or else you die of heat stroke.”

Now imagine the risks with self-driving cars getting hacked…