Comment by kayfox | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kayfox | Hacker News Reader

This is interesting, but if not done well it could have considerable safety and security implications:

1. If the databases are not kept up to date well, there would be a lag when highway authorities change the speed limit in an area, which could lead to traffic traveling at mixed speeds, which is a common cause of car crashes.

2. For an attacker this presents a juicy and new DoS vector: You could break into an automaker and set the speed limit to something low and hold the automaker's customers hostage. This vector already exists for automakers who do OTAs of their vehicles.

3. The above DoS vector could be more subtly used to target individual vehicles in furtherance of other crimes.

4. Theres also the unanswered question of road cars which are also used in various types of races. A friend of mine uses her primary car in rally races, would the restrictions be lifted on private property? Would the databases be updated properly when a public road is used as a race circuit?

I'd be far less charitable and say that even if it's done well (Which let's be real, it wouldn't), it would still be useless in preventing reckless speeding. You could simply disable one or both of the internet / GPS connections and the car would function as normal ("oh no! My GPS module recieved some water damage, how inconvenient!").

The article also links to a ford article that claims "Speed limit signs may be a thing of the past", as if they plan to enforce having every single car in the US to be made post 2024 and have a mandatory always on internet DRM determining exactly how fast you're allowed to go. Ridiculous idea.

What happens when the vehicle leaves the US?

What happens when GPS provides an erroneous location or cannot contact satellites?

What happens when overzealous bureaucrats want to extend this to other areas?

(Convicts must have cars monitored, You pay an extra carbon tax if the GPS tracker sees you drove over 40 miles in a single day, yada yada)

It always starts out with a “noble cause”. Maybe tracking AMBER alert vehicles. Then a few years more and suddenly your car won’t start because you posted non-sanctioned views on meta-threads and now your Google or Apple car refuses to “do business with you”. Or perhaps few own cars relying on self driving taxis who won’t let you access the Uber-Tesla app.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com