Actual headline:
Hackers stuck a 2-inch strip of tape on a 35-mph speed sign and successfully tricked 2 Teslas into accelerating to 85 mph
What they want you to see: AutoPilot is plotting to kill you
The catch: This is AP version version 1, the Mobileye implementation. Thus, it only happens with AP 1 hardware. To suggest that this is the first time anyone came up with the idea of defacing a speed limit sign is pure folly. I don't recall hearing about any incidents during those years. While I suspect there could have been some, there can't be very many. The flow of events is: Two
McAfee researchers did this experiment, this was in turn picked up by the
MIT Technology Review, and now
Business Insider has written the article.
In order to spread the fear, we must link this to the present-day AutoPilot. That's easy: just keep talking and no one will notice. AP "...
is supposed to control the car's speed and keep it a safe distance behind the car in front of it." Yes, and what does it actually do? Owners know that it keeps a safe distance behind the car in front, no matter how high you set the limit. But they don't mention that.
"
The safety of Tesla's autopilot systems is under close scrutiny"
If you are going for sensational, the proper shark-jumping would be to bring in poor Walter Huang, the victim of the Model X accident in Mountainview. And they do just that, complete with the picture.
No need to read it, but
here it is for reference.
Today, Wired has echoed the story, so brace yourselves for another flurry of "news".