Members of congress have urged US auto safety regulators to put forward an industry-wide effort in order to prevent semi-autonomous driving tech becoming vulnerable to hacking.
The lawmakers addressed their concerns in a letter to the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), and while we’re not quite there yet, researchers believe that hackers could take control of various vehicle functions such as horns, brakes and even power steering in the near future.
According to Autonews, the letter pointed to work published by two researchers back in August that were able to force a 2014 Jeep SUV to perform in an “erratic and unsafe manner” after gaining access to its on-board diagnostics port.
The port, which has been present in all vehicles since 1994 to test for emissions compliance, creates “a growing risk to the safety and security of passengers” – said Rep. Fred Upton in the letter.
While FCA stated back in August that in order for researchers to hack the Jeep, a computer needed to be physically connected into the vehicle’s port, as cars become more advanced and data transfer will occur over cloud-based systems, hackers could in theory make attempts at disabling or taking over certain vehicle functions.
The NHTSA has yet to comment on the letter, however the agency has previously stated that it plans to release cyber-security guidelines to the auto industry in the coming weeks.
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