Outbreak of car thieves exploiting keyless entry spreads across London

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London has fallen victim to a new wave of tech-savvy criminals that have been breaking into cars through their keyless entry features.

To paint a picture of how commonplace this is, the Metropolitan Police Office reports that more than 6,000 cars and vans across the UK’s capital were stolen without the owners’ keys, which is an average of 17 vehicles each day. These figures represent 42% of all car and van thefts.

Thieves are said to be using a device that can...

By Simon Holland, 04 February 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Connectivity, Data & Analytics, Devices, Privacy, Security.

BMW moves quickly to solve security hole

A flaw discovered by Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e.V. (ADAC) in BMW’s ConnectedDrive system has now been solved by the manufacturer.

More than 2.2 million vehicles were said to be affected by the vulnerability to ConnectedDrive, BMW’s in-car operating system. ADAC reported that a mobile was all that was required to access the platform.

By spoofing a phone network ADAC was able to break into ConnectedDrive. From here it was possible to control heating, ventilating, and air conditioning,...

By Simon Holland, 02 February 2015, 0 comments. Categories: Connectivity, Privacy, Security, Standards.

A look into the future: Secure connected cars

Picture credit: Denis Bocquet

The number of people living in cities is expected to double by 2050, meaning congestion and pollution will increasingly be a problem for city dwellers. As a result the cities of the future will demand smarter traffic management solutions and more intelligent vehicles.

Experts say that the car industry will develop more in the next decade than it has in the last fifty years due to the rise in connectivity and mobile technology. The industry is gearing itself up for the age of the...

Connected cars leave all-new tread tracks for marketers

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The idea of the digital supercomputer car has been around since the 80’s. Characters like Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T had the ability to learn, communicate and even connect with Michael Knight on some emotional level, not bad for a Pontiac Trans Am.

While in the 80’s it seemed that the reality of an intelligent car was only for the magic of television, today we not only have intelligent cars, but are heading towards a future where your car can be your personal...

Consumer worries about insurance telematics privacy on a par with social media

Insurance telematics concerns could simply be sensationalised hyperbole if new research by LexisNexis rings true for the wider population.

The company’s 2014 Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) white paper revealed how consumers’ comfort levels surrounding the sharing of UBI driving data were on a similar level to other internet-related tasks such as online banking and social media.

In fact, both online search data and social media personal rated higher on the study’s concern scale than UBI driving...

By Simon Holland, 28 November 2014, 0 comments. Categories: Contextual data, Data & Analytics, Insurance, Privacy, Security, Telematics .

Car manufacturers in US calm consumer data collection concerns

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Smarter cars equate to more data being available on an owner’s driving habits, a notion not lost on US trade organisation the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers that has announced new guidelines to manage consumer anxiety.

In a statement released on the Alliance’s website, Mitch Bainwol, the body’s president and CEO, immediately set out to allay consumer concerns by explaining how important it was to be transparent about the features of connected...