Remember the car jacking scene in Terminator 3?
Excerpt
Former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism Richard A. Clarke said that what is known about the crash is “consistent with a car cyber attack.” He was quoted as saying: "There is reason to believe that intelligence agencies for major powers—including the United States—know how to remotely seize control of a car. So if there were a cyber attack on [Hastings’] car — and I’m not saying there was, I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."
Sounds like the usual “I can neither confirm nor deny”
Somebody did something similar for a Jeep like a decade ago… but somehow people still expect the results to be different now.
How can an attacker control the steering?
Lots of modern cars have electric power steering. Many of them have lane keep assist.
Bluetooth -> infotainment system -> CANBUS -> Lane Assist or adaptive steering
Die infotainment system should not have this permission, but it does.
The loophole is the connected smartphone from the driver. An attacker could deauthenticate it and mimic the car app.
The thing that pisses me off most is that cars have these vulnerabilities, and automakers do a shit job of protecting them, but do just a good enough job to keep me, the owner, from playing with them.
Is there an option to physically disable this?
When i finally get an EV I don’t want it to be online in any form, is it even possible to get one like that?
I think there’s a few options, in order of increasing cost:
- get a really cheap one
- get an older one that uses a defunct connectivity method
- modify one to remove/replace any telemetry modules
- build it yourself from scratch using parts from ali express or similar
- get a shop to build one for you
This isn’t really an EV-related thing.
Remove the modem. When I was researching chevy bolts that was the first video I looked up and there was a guy walking through it. It involved opening up the panels and was time consuming but I was willing to do it. Unfortunately, didn’t end up getting a chevy bolt.
Edit: sorry, I didn’t read it and it appears to be bluetooth or radio frequency. Removing the modem would not prevent this attack. Probably update the car and hope for the best. Unless you figure out how to remove rf and bluetooth
It is not just EVs, this can be done on almost every new car in some form or another.
Install the latest update and hope for the best.
Or try disabling bluetooth.
Or try to get a car without autonomous parking.
Seems like there is no real option though.
Install the latest update and hope for the best.
The addiction is also the cure.
That’s what our economy has become. Sad.
Get an old leaf with a new battery?
Get a used moderately old petrol car and do an EV motor swap into it.
I want the new technology but it has to work like the old, and I can answer myself: Okay boomer!
I’ll have to find a compromise when I finally get an EV.
Wow, super impressive. Now we need a live video feed from some forward facing camera to give some FPV perspective and a gamepad. And with some more clever hacks, the Leaf could become something like a Mars rover.
…a semi-autonomous vehicle surveying a dead landscape?
Sure. It could do your summer vacation including those nasty traffic jams without your participation. Send back a few pictures from important landmarks and monuments, all the while you sit in front of your computer in your air conditioned home like the hacker in the video. Dead landscape might be another option. I’m not sure how the processing power of a Nissan compares to a Mars rover 😅 Maybe it needs to drive very slow to be able to keep up with the incoming sensor data, or due to delay…
“Take my [family], please”
You’re a genius. I hadn’t even thought about that… 🏆
These would be better robo taxis
thats a premium feature.
