Hackers turn off Tesla Model S at low speed

The company said the Tesla Model S bug has been fixed and customers will automatically receive security patches over their existing wireless Internet connections on Thursday.

As such, the target deliveries for Tesla’s Model S and Model X cars are now between 50,000 and 55,000. While Tesla quickly addressed the issue, it seems that a fix for the hack-vulnerable products out of Detroit require a bit more time.

Researcher Kevin Mahaffey published his findings on the Lookout blog conveniently on opening day of the 23rd annual Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas.

A generation or two ago, young guys liked to mess around with cars, trying to make them faster, louder and generally more disreputable.

According to the blog explanation of the hack by Mahaffey, the Tesla Model S can be brought to a complete halt at speeds of less than five miles per hour by remotely sending out commands to apply the emergency hand brake.

The news comes just weeks after Fiat Chrysler began the recall of over 1.4m cars in the US after security researchers revealed one of its cars could be hacked. What we do know for sure is that there are plenty of reasons to get excited about Tesla’s new developments and what they mean for the future of eco-friendly travel. Rogers was able to unlock the car’s doors pop open the trunk and (at extremely slow speeds) lurch the auto to a halt while making everything inside go dark. Look at it this way: In one day every Model S owner is protected against these hacks, whereas it’ll take much longer for the majority of Chrysler owners to get their patch (and there’s a good chance it’ll never reach them all).

“Our security team works closely with the security research community to ensure that we continue to protect our systems against vulnerabilities by constantly stress-testing, validating, and updating our safeguards”, commented the automaker.

This was another key safety feature that earned Tesla praise from the security researchers.

Mahaffey praised the software update, but he added that Tesla needed to improve individual system security since he and Rogers were able to take control of the entertainment system by hacking into each system individually.