Former National Security Agency (NSA) hacker Charlie Miller who now works for Twitter and IOActive researcher Chris Valasek exploited a flaw in the Fiat Chrysler telematics system Uconnect, rewriting its embedded code and issuing commands to the accelerator, brakes, windscreen wipers and radio.
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The car in question was driven on a busy US highway by a nervous Wired.com reporter – watch the video of the test below.
“There are hundreds of thousands of cars that are vulnerable on the road right now,” Miller told Reuters.
Fiat Chrysler said it had already developed a software upgrade that would resolve the vulnerabilities and is available for free download from the company’s website and its dealerships.
“Similar to a smartphone or tablet, vehicle software can require updates for improved security protection to reduce the potential risk of unauthorised and unlawful access to vehicle systems,” the company said.
Both Miller and Valasek have been conducting research on car safety for years and have time and again raised alarm on how a moving car could be remotely hacked through the vulnerabilities in its embedded software.
A similar test has been conducted by an academic team in the past but the car’s or manufacturer’s name was not revealed in the results, which were not regarded seriously by the industry, according to the researchers.
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