New House Smart Transportation Caucus will help keep hackers out of cars

Four House members, Reps Joe Barton (R-TX), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), and Ted Lieu (D-CA), established a new caucus focused on connected and self-driving cars. The House Smart Transportation Caucus comes as autonomous driving is quickly becoming a reality, with Internet-enabled devices within vehicles sparking fears of remote hacking.

The bipartisan group said it will focus on identifying policies that make sure these new technologies are safe for drivers and secure from digital intruders.' Together, the group will look at a wide range of new-age transportation tools, such as upcoming transit and parking technologies, alternative traffic and freight management systems, and “smart infrastructure,” or structures such as buildings and roads that are embedded with sensors to collect and analyze data. The members said they want to educate members on these cost-reducing and life-saving technologies and bring together those involved from the private sector and federal government.