They are convenient, but are they secure?

My family was sitting around the dinner table discussing this and that when the subject of cars came up. My brother is looking into buying a new car and we were talking about all of the new computerized gadgets and gizmos that are in cars these days. My father is adamantly against computerizing cars, preferring to rely on levers and cables as opposed to letting a computer do the work. On the surface this seems like just another case of the last generation not understanding or trusting the technology of the former generation, however as we discussed it someone brought up some very interesting thoughts.

Is it possible that the more computerized cars get and the more cars do to “make driving easier” the worse people will actually get at driving? I think there is a line somewhere between making things easy/convenient and enabling people to be lazy/stupid drivers. Things like backup camera’s, proximity alerts, and automatic traction control are great, but what happens when that camera fails, or your traction control doesn’t work properly and you begin to skid? It wouldn’t surprise me at all if within the next couple generations driving will look nothing like it did for us.

Another little tidbit we discussed was that this past January Ford released the first ever software update for a car which fixed some bugs and added several features to thier “MyFord Touch”. This means that it is now possible to change the programming of computers in vehicles. Cyber crimes are a huge issue, I mean the FBI has an entire task force dedicated to it, and it is altogether plausible that before to awful long will start to see technology that allows people to hack into and take control of your vehicle through its computer. This could open up entirely new opportunities for theft, homicide, and any number of other possibilities…scary thought no?

Now with all that being said I am not personally against computerizing cars, its where technology is and its where it is going but it is an interesting thing to think about, not only just with cars but with all aspects of our lives as we all get more and more plugged into the network that is the technology of our age. As with all things if this does happen they will come up with a way to safeguard against it, and then people will figure out a way to overcome that safeguard and they will come up with another line of security and the cycle will go on. So don’t let this stop you from buying a car with all the bells and whistles, but also don’t forget how to drive without them. It doesn’t matter how advanced the car is if the person behind the wheel is incompetent.