"Smart" streetlights getting hacked - i'd go out with a cup of popcorn to watch the show, then get even more reassured that whoever decided to replace reliable "stupid" lighting systems with that stuff is a complete moron

"Smart" fridge in my house getting hacked - i'd definitely not want that

In general - there are places where "smart" is good and places where not. And out of places where it is good, think twice where the "head" of the system is and who can access it. I'd definitely trust local stuff more than "cloud" stuff. But there go all the fanboiz that hype everything thats smart and cloud based

"Smart" streetlights getting hacked - i'd go out with a cup of popcorn to watch the show, then get even more reassured that whoever decided to replace reliable "stupid" lighting systems with that stuff is a complete moron

"Smart" fridge in my house getting hacked - i'd definitely not want that

In general - there are places where "smart" is good and places where not. And out of places where it is good, think twice where the "head" of the system is and who can access it. I'd definitely trust local stuff more than "cloud" stuff. But there go all the fanboiz that hype everything thats smart and cloud based

And you really don't want your "smart" car getting hacked while on the road.

No way, the things are never that "smart". Maximum you may do is to block the wanted communication (DoS type attack).
These are not i-phone like toys from e-bay, but a things for real use. And if there is any "public demand" interface, it has very limited possibilities and it for sure includes the time outs (a very primitive DoS defense technique). And if anything suspicious is sensed by the controller, it just switches to prewired "safe state" and waits till the attach ceases...
At first these things lack the computing power to even allow such thorough control to make them really go crazy.

Cars would almost certainly have a "fail safe" mode in case a hacking occurs.

That is for sure. They keep telling us that smart cars are getting statistically safer than manual cars, however, i would rather trust my life to myself and some stupid and reliable machinery, than to smart machinery that thinks by itself

And we shouldn't get into if the car has smart enough AI to turn evil on us.

That is for sure. They keep telling us that smart cars are getting statistically safer than manual cars, however, i would rather trust my life to myself and some stupid and reliable machinery, than to smart machinery that thinks by itself

" No way, the things are never that "smart" "

I'd not be so sure about that. There comes the day when some startup company by some "cool kidz" makes a product where everything is possible, and sells it to some mayor who wants to make his city be the 1st most advanced city in the world. I seen WAY to much of this stuff in my IT jobs, and i mean in important and critical applications

" Cars would almost certainly have a "fail safe" mode in case a hacking occurs. "

But is that what you want ? Would you like for example your car to enforce speed limits or driver soberity when all you need NOW is to run for life from a tsunami that caught you in the bar on the weekend ?

That is for sure. They keep telling us that smart cars are getting statistically safer than manual cars, however, i would rather trust my life to myself and some stupid and reliable machinery, than to smart machinery that thinks by itself

" No way, the things are never that "smart" "

I'd not be so sure about that. There comes the day when some startup company by some "cool kidz" makes a product where everything is possible, and sells it to some mayor who wants to make his city be the 1st most advanced city in the world. I seen WAY to much of this stuff in my IT jobs, and i mean in important and critical applications

" Cars would almost certainly have a "fail safe" mode in case a hacking occurs. "

But is that what you want ? Would you like for example your car to enforce speed limits or driver soberity when all you need NOW is to run for life from a tsunami that caught you in the bar on the weekend ?

Cars would also have a manual mode, where all "smart" features are gone. Perfect for the emergency tsunami.

It is true, although more and more automation prevents many human errors leading to accidents, but it will introduce way new kinds of human errors, again leading to accidents.

I think the situation will not be too much diferent to what happened in the aircraft cockpits:
30years ago and before, the most desperate sentence was "What the heck shall I do now?",
while the last 20 years the most desperate question became "What the heck the (...) thing is doing now?"

But still, the major air disasters are rarer and rarer, despite the huge increase in traffic...

Cars would also have a manual mode, where all "smart" features are gone. Perfect for the emergency tsunami.

Yep, but then some politicians will find a way to enforce laws and maybe require technical measures in order to prevent you from using the "i know what im doing" mode everyday..

Cars would also have a manual mode, where all "smart" features are gone. Perfect for the emergency tsunami.

Yep, but then some politicians will find a way to enforce laws and maybe require technical measures in order to prevent you from using the "i know what im doing" mode everyday..

Don't forget, a bit of modifying could make it manual again.

Then this "modifying" can be made illegal

Then this "modifying" can be made illegal

Sounds like a big riot waiting to happen. Then people will use more "dumb" methods of transportation like bicycles.

No. They will accept and even support the decision, being convinced that it makes the roads safer (maybe it does, but is it the most important thing ?)

No. They will accept and even support the decision, being convinced that it makes the roads safer (maybe it does, but is it the most important thing ?)

The road accidents are the top cause of deaths of young and healthy people and are rivaling even the real; health related causes, I don't think it is so unimportant...

Having choice is more important