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Risk of autopilot being used for nefarious purposes

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I was chatting with my brother about my new X and he made a comment that worried me. What if a terrorist organization decides to use a self-driving car as a car-bomb?
Yes, autopilot cannot be used to deliver a bomb today, but in the near future that will be possible. I think it may be possible even today with some clever manipulation of the sensors (e.g. a dummy in the driver's seat, getting it started with the window open and then letting it go).
Is this a real risk? Anything that can be done about it?
I can think of a couple things:
1) Enhancing internal sensors to ensure there's always a human in the car. Of course, this means no "long distance summon" so it may be undesirable. And it may be bypassed by even creepier methods.
2) Enhancing the Model X air filtration system to detect explosives. Explosive detectors are becoming a commodity, and you may be able to put one in the air circulation system so autopilot refuses to work if there's an identifiable explosive inside the car. Of course, this would only be useful until the terrorists find out how to bypass the detection (e.g. block the air flow) but as long as you make it hard enough it may serve its purpose.

I think this is an unlikely scenario in the short term, but an almost assured one in the long term. And the day it happens, we may lose autonomous driving for many years while lawmakers panic and try to find a way around it, so anything we can do to prevent this from happening would be desirable.
 
All that's a waste of time, engineering effort, and cost.

A terrorist could just as easily do this a la Mythbusters:
rccar.jpg


1000 ways to skin a cat. Making cars more complex and costly just to reduce the likelihood of making one of those ways more difficult is just not worth it.
 
I think this is an unlikely scenario in the short term, but an almost assured one in the long term. And the day it happens, we may lose autonomous driving for many years while lawmakers panic and try to find a way around it, so anything we can do to prevent this from happening would be desirable.

You mean like how cell phones are now forbidden because they have been used to set off bombs remotely, how vests are forbidden since they are often made to carry explosives for suicide bombers, how cars in general have been forbidden since the Oklahoma city bombing where explosives were hidden in the trunk and the car parked next to a federal building?
 
You mean like how cell phones are now forbidden because they have been used to set off bombs remotely, how vests are forbidden since they are often made to carry explosives for suicide bombers, how cars in general have been forbidden since the Oklahoma city bombing where explosives were hidden in the trunk and the car parked next to a federal building?

Actually, it was a Ryder rental truck, but we get what you mean.
 
I was chatting with my brother about my new X and he made a comment that worried me. What if a terrorist organization decides to use a self-driving car as a car-bomb?
Yes, autopilot cannot be used to deliver a bomb today, but in the near future that will be possible. I think it may be possible even today with some clever manipulation of the sensors (e.g. a dummy in the driver's seat, getting it started with the window open and then letting it go).
Is this a real risk? Anything that can be done about it?
I can think of a couple things:
1) Enhancing internal sensors to ensure there's always a human in the car. Of course, this means no "long distance summon" so it may be undesirable. And it may be bypassed by even creepier methods.
2) Enhancing the Model X air filtration system to detect explosives. Explosive detectors are becoming a commodity, and you may be able to put one in the air circulation system so autopilot refuses to work if there's an identifiable explosive inside the car. Of course, this would only be useful until the terrorists find out how to bypass the detection (e.g. block the air flow) but as long as you make it hard enough it may serve its purpose.

I think this is an unlikely scenario in the short term, but an almost assured one in the long term. And the day it happens, we may lose autonomous driving for many years while lawmakers panic and try to find a way around it, so anything we can do to prevent this from happening would be desirable.

Well now you gave them the idea.... nice work.
 
They could just buy a small plane with the money spent buying a MS/MX and have a much more effective weapon.

Using such a smart car to deliver a bomb would make it that much easier to track/arrest a perpetrator. Tesla could pull up tons and tons of information and hand it right over to federal agents for an investigation.
 
This topic is sensational. I imagine they would use something cheaper. It's so unlikely it's not even worth mentioning. I know the Model S and X have a large amount of... ahem... space for "cargo," but it's just completely unrealistic. You're making it sound there's someone meaning to do harm lying around every corner.
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