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How Smart Cars Enable Smart Criminals ~ Einstein, contrary to what he himself may have believed, was indeed smart. But perhaps what he missed in his quote was that beyond being able to stay with his problems, he was actually able to first recognize their existence. As vehicles become “smarter”, everybody hails the advancements as exciting and fun. Some even go as far as to coin it revolutionary, as is often common nowadays. But countless people wait anxiously for autonomous vehicles to make their public debut. Many are hardly able to wait today for the technological advancements of tomorrow… But should we hope for such hasty advancements? Is there nothing we’re not considering fully? Is there no problem here we’re not noticing?

The answer is sadly and surprisingly yes, there are countless problems that have yet to be considered or even recognized. But one that has both consumers and auto manufacturers most concerned is the fact that as cars become smarter, there are newer and far cleverer ways for thieves to be mischievous. You will soon no longer need a crowbar and screwdriver to break into and steal a car. All you’ll need is a laptop and quick access to the computer plugins in the vehicle under the hood or dashboard. At which point, the car can almost be left alone until the time is right to steal it whenever and wherever desired. It’s quite a new concept, and one which has people a little concerned.
What a Vehicles Internal Computer Controls

Below are a few of the various ways a Car Hacker can figuratively break into your car to steal whatever desired. And rest assured, these things are already being done today save for the self-driving and autonomous vehicle bit. But once that takes place, cops are going to have an extremely difficult time… police chases with no one driving the suspect vehicle. Makes you wonder if it’s even worth the chase at that point. There’s not really anyone getting away any more. But I digress, and without further ado, here are a few of the smarter ways car thieves are scoring big. Or in the least… having a hearty laugh.
Windows

Of course, this only matters if you have automatic windows. If you’re still hand cranking your windows shut, you need not have a worry over this. But remember that anything electric or automated nowadays is controlled by a computer, even your windows. Granted, if your vehicle was broken into they’re probably not worried over hot wiring your windows. But that said, it’s still possible and if need be, they could always open them later when it’s more useful.
Radio/MP3/CD

Car audio system via Michael Sheehan

Again, not something that would be much of a concern, but a criminal could be clever. Perhaps use the audio system of another vehicle to distract and keep attention away from a different vehicle; Or perhaps to deafen the driver so as to make them pull over. Or even stop using their car for a few days as they may believe something is broken. Point is, people will become a little baffled once their radio goes ghost on them, playing random tunes at ear shattering volume levels. Again, a clever criminal could find a use for this.
 

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Check Engine Lights

You can image that compared to windows and the radio, a criminal could come up with a few good reasons to hack into a vehicles check engine light system. Nowadays, sensors know more than simply your vehicles engine temperature, they know your tire pressure from the monitoring system, your levels of gas and oil, and a whole slew of other things.
Start Engine Button

You can easily imagine that if a vehicle can be started with the push of a button, it can certainly be turned off as well. Doesn’t take long to realize the benefit a criminal would have if this were possible.
Braking & Accelerating

Computers in many of the newer vehicles being produced can recognize if you are about to get into an accident and will automatically brake for you. Computers also can regulate your acceleration, and many vehicles have computers in place to reduce your overall top speed to help avoid going too fast. If a computer can stop your car and make it go faster, it wouldn’t take long for a hacker to do the same given a moment’s access to your vehicle.
Steering

Finally, there’s the one thing that has always been done by the hands of man, and that is steering. But with advancements in autonomous and self-driving vehicles, we’ve begun to give cars the ability to drive themselves. Which means that if a hacker wanted to steal a car, it can be accomplished without ever actually having to drive the vehicle. They can simply log in, and drive the vehicle wherever they please. In fact, they wouldn’t even need to drive it, the car could drive itself! They would simply have to tell it where to go. Which means that in the future, fewer people would be jacking cars as is done nowadays. More of them would be car hacking.