Just watched an episode of NCIS (Out of Control) where the story premise was that a driven car was taken over by bad guys by remote control. The authority line was that, 'any car with lane assist, and internet connectivity' is vulnerable.

Fact, or fiction?

Probably partially true given the amount of things even on my car that are controlled electronically although there tends to be ways that the driver can easily override them.

 

I'm not sure you'd even need lane assist.  An ePAS motor is easily capable of steering without any mechanical input.  If you could 'hack' into service procedures and find one to test the ePAS motor then you could use that to steer.

It seems perfectly feasible to me. We've already got EPAS as Tom mentioned, intelligent speed assist, adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking,ESP, throttle by wire, various manufacturers have tried brake by wire with varying success, and I see that steer by wire with no physical connection between the steering wheel and road wheels is coming.

I already find myself wondering how much actual control I'm exercising and how much is down to the systems in the background. 

I wonder how many people will be using the defence "the car made me do it, m'lud" in future!😀

 

An example of the above is the Self Parking that some cars can do if you enable it.

On my Manual car if I press the Button the car will select a suitable parking space, tell me to put the car into reverse then steer it into the space with my only input being to put the car into reverse or first, Accelerate and brake when it tells me, if I don't brake in time it will do it for me, don't ask how I know🤭. It will stop Steering if I touch the Steering Wheel though.

In the 8 speed Automatic Gearbox versions of my car I believe you don't even need to touch the Accelerator, Brake or Gears, everything is done automatically.  

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

and I see that steer by wire with no physical connection between the steering wheel and road wheels is coming.

It's already a thing !!

The Tesla Cybertruck is steer by wire, there is no mechanical connection to the steering system. see video by James May. Fast Forward to 5:55 for steering info.

 

Have you not heard of agricultural machines that are remote monitored & can be shut down from the factory in the event of problems (and, presumably, if the lease payments are not forthcoming)?

No doubt the technology already exists to monitor & shut down cars as well, but it would need to be done only when the vehicle is stationary.

3 minutes ago, Alan G H said:

No doubt the technology already exists to monitor & shut down cars as well, but it would need to be done only when the vehicle is stationary.

My own car has a tracker fitted and I can remotely shutdown the engine with a simple command from my phone, and of course the Ford Pass App allows for remote start and remote switch off.