Self-driving cars ‘vulnerable to hacking’

‘Hackers pose a real danger to self-driving vehicles, US experts are warning, and carmakers 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 technologies — including cameras, radar, sonar and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) — commanded remotely using software that senses road widths, and identifies signs and even roadblocks.

But like connected vehicles and their onboard multimedia systems, these new self-driving technology elements, which are 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.’

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