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>At the end of the three-year project, the team aims to have a commercially viable prototype that can be scaled up to commercial production, first as a theft deterrent device, and potentially later as a complete vehicle entry and control system that could replace traditional keys and fobs. What's the point of this? Modern cars already have engines that are cryptographically tied to keys[1]. They're not perfect, but i…
I simply drive a manual - ultimate theft deterrent these days
Car thieves learn how to break into various makes and models of cars and hotwire them. They have also figured out this thing called a "clutch".
This is a very engineering solution to a very not-engineering problem. Would this deter thieves? Possibly! Would thieves eventually be able to work around it? Also probably! Would it increase the friction of getting in and driving? Definitely! Today, your house keys are basically useless for security -- getting into your house is trivially easy both destructively and not. But we all use house keys because they feel s…
"Today, your house keys are basically useless for security" They are not useless. Only some people have the skills and tools to open them - so they are useful at keeping most people out, even though they don't provide perfect protection. Most thieves are not professionals, but for example junkies who look for something easy. A simple automatic light, is already doing wonders to keep them away.
But also, bricks through windows are equally not difficult and not expensive, though they do leave a bit more evidence. When my neighbors have been burgled, this is the preferred method of entry I've seen.
this is 'cool but stupid'. Running a relay into the car to a switch thats protected just moves a analog electrical problem somewhere else, it' still just two wires to jump at the end of the day What you want is what smarter cars have, integration to the ECU. So you put in the wrong key, it does a crypto exchange with the ecu, and the ECU won't crank. Even if you crank it by jumping the solenoid, it won't power the fu…
Maybe they want that thing to talk to the ECU? Otherwise, how is it locking the car?
It's ridiculous this sort of thing is needed, but it's sort of...fun?
This is a very engineering solution to a very not-engineering problem. Would this deter thieves? Possibly! Would thieves eventually be able to work around it? Also probably! Would it increase the friction of getting in and driving? Definitely! Today, your house keys are basically useless for security -- getting into your house is trivially easy both destructively and not. But we all use house keys because they feel s…
> This is a very engineering solution to a very not-engineering problem. True, the solution very obviously to reduce poverty. It's a social problem, not an engineering nor a policing problem.
The receiver which measures the voltage pattern and decides if the rest of the voltage is allowed or not becomes the weak point. Like the encrypted key system used today, this could be buried deep inside the engine, but unclear why this is better than keys today. In addition, if the driver should be able to manually recreate the voltage pattern by actually flicking the lights/wipers, there will be a relatively small…
Plus DOS when the battery is exhausted after a couple of "turn lights on off, turn wipers on off".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. What's even worse is that it takes a huge research grant to come up with this. > With a new $1.2 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation...
That amount of money is absolutely nothing compared to the waste that goes on in the startup industry. Remember the $445 million self driving pizza oven delivery van?
1. It's re-inventing a kill switch. 2. It adds tons of uselees innovation to a kill switch. 3. If your car is antique/valuable/interesting, the people stealing it know the starting diagram/circuit and can easily rip it out/bypass it. 4. IF your car is antique/valuable/interesting you wouldn't add this as it can depreciate the car value/make it more ugly. You're not installing this in a brand new BMW M6, or a new Hond…
I'd argue your 3rd point is more based in the reality of movies that involve unique cars (Gone in 60 Seconds, etc). Most unique rides are typically stolen due to owner laziness(leaving keys on top of a tire, keys in the visor, left running, etc.).
Stripping an security system is also doable, via the can-bus attacks we see of late, but more personalized can just be to replace the ECU. In many cars this can be done in less than 15 minutes.
Car shopping as presented in gone in 60 seconds is somewht common - ask people on any enthusiast forum and you'll see.
Miatas in Bay area, stolen for the hard top/car itself. Skylines Honda Civics - just spare parts basically, though if it's a mint enough model I can see people vin swap because 2000's Honda S2000 - mint models reach 30K now, so it's own market.
And that's just from what I've kept up* in.
Now would someone pull up to someones garage, open that, and drive out? Probably not - but alot of people do drive cars to a parking space for work, or if they live in a condo - have shared/communal parking, and such.
And to add an extra layer of paraonia, it is very inexpensive to attach a GPS/Air tag to a car and track it - within a week or two you can see a pattern of where it goes, for how long and what amount of time its standby.
The VIN number is also viewable from the windshield, meaning if the thief has any sort of connection - they could even just order a replacement key thats preprogrammed with a base code and potentially just turn up to the car and drive away.
But for opportunistic theft, yes - keys left within car/visible and then stolen but there are many different type of thieves for different markets. For unique/"antique" cars or any cars that were in the first three gran turismo - being targeted is a very big thing now in the community.
This is a very engineering solution to a very not-engineering problem. Would this deter thieves? Possibly! Would thieves eventually be able to work around it? Also probably! Would it increase the friction of getting in and driving? Definitely! Today, your house keys are basically useless for security -- getting into your house is trivially easy both destructively and not. But we all use house keys because they feel s…
> This is a very engineering solution to a very not-engineering problem. True, the solution very obviously to reduce poverty. It's a social problem, not an engineering nor a policing problem.