Self-driving cars vulnerable to cyber attack: Experts

Hackers pose a real danger to self-driving vehicles, US experts are warning, and car makers and insurers are starting to factor in the risk.

Expected on the road by 2020 or even sooner, driverless cars should have a wide range of cutting-edge technologies such as electronic sensors – a group of cameras, radar, sonar and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) – commanded remotely using software that senses road widths, identifies signs and even roadblocks.

But like connected vehicles and their on board multimedia systems, these new self-driving technology elements – which were meant to make the cars safe and reliable, could end up leaving them vulnerable to hacker strikes, according to US security firms Mission Secure Inc (MSi) and Perrone Robotics Inc.

A hacker recently boasted of having entered the electronic systems of the US jet he was traveling on, and of having changed its trajectory. He claimed he did so using the in-flight Wi-Fi system.

The two security companies, working with the University of Virginia and the Pentagon, have run tests that have shown they believe it is possible to hack into and disrupt the multi-sensor system.

One trial was to change how the car responded when it encountered an obstacle.

“One attack scenario forces the car to accelerate, rather than brake, even though the obstacle avoidance system (using LiDAR) detects an object in front of the car. Rather than slowing down, the car hits the object … at high speed, causing damage to the car and potential threat to the life and safety of the passengers in the car under attack and in the car being struck,” according to the report available on Msi’s website.

“If an attack were carried out successfully, automobile manufacturers have no means of quickly gathering information for forensic analysis or to rapidly deploy additional protections to cars in response to new and evolving attacks,” the report warns.

According to these experts, hackers penetrate the system through wireless connections.

MSi and Perrone Robotics, which are working on a system to counter cyber attacks, believe the situation poses “significant challenges and risks for the automotive industry, as well as to public safety.”