It’s easy to see that, with various technological innovations, automobiles are now safer than they’ve ever been. A number of complex systems are in place to ensure that your commute is worry-free, with the advent of computers making our lives on the road easier than ever.
But can the very systems we’ve developed to keep us safe actually turn out to be a hazard themselves? That’s what a new report suggests. Computers are now central to a car’s operation, and their importance will continue to increase as we push farther into the digital era. But just like your home PC, a car’s computer system isn’t invulnerable to a bug or a crash.
Also just like your home PC, an automobile’s computer is vulnerable to hackers. Researchers from the University of Washington and the University of California, San Diego, recently showed that a vehicle’s computer could be hacked through physical contact or wirelessly via Bluetooth. Because we live in such a new frontier of vehicular design and car safety, cybersecurity has been given short shrift by automobile manufacturers because threats simply haven’t shown themselves yet.
As a Long Beach car accident attorney, I look forward to a new era of safety that can be brought about by the multitude of advances occurring right now in the automotive industry. But as we develop new and better ways to drive, it’s crucial to also pay attention to the many threats that can present themselves in time. As a car accident attorney in Long Beach, it’s plain to me that car security is about to get very interesting in the near future.