Hacking sends shivers through brave new world of digital cars

The connected car may be catching everyone's imagination at this year's IAA auto show. But the new technology also brings with it new dangers, such as hacking.
Carmakers at the Frankfurt Motor Show, which opens its doors to the general public on Saturday, are keen to show off their brave new world of intelligent, digitised models. But an incident in the US earlier this year when computer hackers remotely took control of a Jeep Grand Cherokee while it was driving on a motorway and brought it to a standstill highlighted the dangers that such innovations can bring.
And the industry must find ways of convincing consumers that these new super-computers on wheels are safe and secure.
One Jeep owner, Michael Frosch, is taking an extra close look at different models on display at the IAA.
"I have the same navigation system as in the Jeep that was hacked," he says. "But I guess I'm not important enough for someone to want to send me crashing into a tree." Jeep was forced to recall 1.4 million vehicles in the US in the wake of the hacking incident, which was a real wake-up call to the potential dangers, says Ricardo Reyes, vice president of US start-up Tesla, a maker of upscale electric cars. "We were mobilised before" the incident with the Jeep, but "awareness is much stronger" now, says Brigitte Courtehoux, director of PSA Peugeot Citroen's connected services business unit. German auto giant Volkswagen has promised to turn "all of our models into smartphones on wheels" by 2020.
But as was the case with computers and mobile phones before them, that will make cars potential targets for hackers.
Around 150 million connected cars will be on the road world-wide in 2020, according to estimates by consultancy firm Gartner. For the time being, "there is no clear economic model for hacking cars. But once your car stores sensitive data, that will start attracting criminals," said Egil Juliussen, analyst at IHS.
And those criminals always keep pace with any technological advance. "A connected car is only secure for a short time" until a chink in the armour can be found, said Andrey Nikishin, director of futures technologies projects at the cybersecurity consultants Kaspersky.