Automakers to Congress: Stay away from the ‘Internet of cars’

Major vehicle manufacturers are telling Congress to keep its distance as the industry evolves to take advantage of the “Internet of cars.” Representatives of Toyota, Tesla and GM are scheduled to testify before a House Oversight subcommittee on Nov 18, when they will tout the safety and comfort benefits of increasingly connected cars in prepared testimony. Their plea for limited government intervention comes after the recall of 1.4 million Chrysler vehicles earlier in 2015 when researchers found a flaw that allowed them to remotely hack into the vehicles.

“Regulation at a time of rapid innovation runs the risk of limiting the realization of the full extent of safety advances,” Tesla’s head of business development Diarmuid O’Connell will say. Increased regulation should be avoided unless “absolutely necessary,” he will say. O’Connell said the Chrysler vulnerability could have been avoided if manufacturers ensured that their vehicles were not directly connected across the Internet. He also said connected cars must isolate their mechanical systems, such as braking, and make sure to use encryption technology to protect privacy of information transferred to and from vehicles.