HACKERS CAN TRICK DRIVERLESS CARS WITH A HANDHELD LASER

Now, a security researcher says that the complex LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) system used in many driverless car prototypes can be fooled with just $60 in parts. (LiDAR relies on the same principles of radar, but instead uses lasers, making it quicker and more accurate.) The hack allows for the attacker to trick the car into thinking there are objects where there actually isn’t—potentially forcing the car to slow down, stop, or swerve. “I can take echoes of a fake car and put them at any location I want,” Jonathan Petit of Security Innovation told IEEE Spectrum. “And I can do the same with a pedestrian or a wall.”