Cybersecurity researchers have successfully deceived Tesla's autopilot by slightly modifying a road sign. By spotting it, the car accelerated unjustifiably, reports Electrek .
The hackers working for McAfee Advanced Threat Research were actually looking to "identify and highlight the wide range of threats present in today's complex environment," they said on their blog. To do this, they made up a speed limit sign with a simple piece of black tape, as shown in a video posted on YouTube this Wednesday.
Researchers were able to trick a Tesla automobile into speeding by putting a strip of electrical tape over at 35 mph speed limit sign pic.twitter.com/ddbjy3K108
- QuickTake by Bloomberg (@QuickTake) February 19, 2020Tesla informed of the malfunction
They thus transformed the limit of 35 miles per hour (56 km / h) into 85 miles per hour (137 km / h). The car, which spotted the sign with its mobile camera, believed that the maximum authorized speed had changed. The researchers had previously activated the cruise control system.
For safety, the specialists stopped the acceleration of the autonomous vehicle when it reached 50 miles per hour (80 km / h) and its speed continued to increase. Tesla was informed of this experience last September. The manufacturer usually quickly fixes the vulnerabilities that professionals tell him.
The only possible answer, however, would be to improve the quality of the autopilot's visual recognition system, which is a difficult task. MobilEye, manufacturer of the device, ensures that its most recent cameras cannot be trapped by this manipulation.
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