US government wants security research on car-to-car nets

"proposals that would see one car radio another to tell it when heavy braking is required"

So if I lived in the US and had the technical know how (or a transmitter bought from the wrecker's yard):

that's one to be fitted to the kid's bicycle to create a safe zone around them with nothing else moving within 200 ft on their way to school;

one to be fitted to the car with a manual trigger to get that tractor-trailer rig I'm trying to pass but who speeds up a bit as I pull out to let me in; also to get the driver of that Ponctiac who thinks he can overtake ME (the cheek!) to find suddenly he can't

one perhaps on each lamppost on the street so our kids can play safe..

Someone's going to be the first to do it....

“vehicle cybersecurity”

That horse has well and truly bolted already. A while ago, El Reg reported on a fascinating paper describing how researchers attached a radio device to a car's system bus and were able to take control of anything. In theory there's supposed to be security separating the safety-critical systems from things like the radio, but they found that it was easily circumvented, and that they were able to take over the brakes and accelerator of a moving car.

You only have to spend some time with the UI of a car's computer to realise that it was designed by people who are new to this sort of thing, and probably more at home with nuts and bolts.

At least someone is paying attention

Do we REALLY need our cars networked and software driven?

Hmmm, lets see...

I'll take a level 4 SUV with the reclining "magic fingers" massage option, remote start, in-route entertainment system, auto-park option, minibar dash option, run flat tires, and mini-keg cooler. In green, of course. And I want hybrid, so it gets 20 MPG instead of 14 MPG.

This may be a good thing. Computers don't get mad at trash trucks, school buses, slow Prius drivers, and of course, the ever infuriating bicyclists (or whatever those bike-tards call themselves now). Less stress = WIN. I just wonder how a level 4 vehicle can identify a bicycle rider. Ba-bump, ba-bump - what was that ? Must have been a raccoon !

Terminator because the cars will eventually figure out they're more intelligent than the drivers. Then...

Was I the only one reading...

"proposals that would see one car radio another to tell it when heavy drinking is required"

FBI, et al, will demand backdoors

The Ontario Provincial Police pioneered, in Canada, the use of air-bag controls to ascertain the actions of a driver immediately prior to a accident using the data to, in effect, self-convict an at-fault driver. I removed all the circuitry and mounted them in a location disguised as a body component and requiring a hoist for access on my SUV.

In this latest wet-dream, just how 'dead' are systems in Level 2 and above? Are they quiescent but monitoring/recording?

Additionally, it would make a perfect accessory for Plod to actually bring vehicles either to a stop or render them inoperative.

Do we need to give Plod any more powers than they have already?

Further proof

"We are also developing countermeasures to prevent these security credentials from being stolen or duplicated."

This just proves security should /always/ be developed by politicians and administrators. It seems they're going with the well-documented "security through obscurity" approach rather than trying to roll their own...