Robotaxis are coming to London - But are we doing enough to stop them being turned into 'slaughter-bots'? |
By Steffan Roxrud Thorvaldsen
Earlier this week it was announced that British self-driving car firm Wayve has secured £1.5bn in funding, ahead of its London launch later this year in partnership with Uber.
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The launch in 2026 will be for taxis, but the company is hopeful that it will be able to integrate its software into consumer vehicles from 2027.
While this is in some ways an exciting development and a big win for a British company, I’m concerned about the risks carried by such a significant step.
Now, it is of course not to say we should be writing off these kind of interconnected systems. On the contrary, they have the potential to be, and in many cases already are, of enormous benefit to society.
But care must be taken. Over time cars have gone from simpler modes of transport, to ‘computers-on-wheels’. And like any other computer, they’re hackable.
We’ve seen numerous examples of this in the past. In late 2024 it was revealed that a flaw in Kia’s web portal allowed bad actors to track cars, unlock doors and even start engines.In another case, a vulnerability in fleet management software, used to monitor and control vehicles, enabled hackers to access locations, diagnostics and even the ability to turn off a vehicle’s engine.These concerns become all the more serious when taking into account the rapid adoption of robotaxis and self-driving cars.In cities across Europe we’ve tragically seen cars used as deadly weapons by terrorists. When used with hostile intent a car is nothing more than two tonnes of steel on wheels.I don’t think it's too alarmist to suggest that governments and those involved in the sector should be conscious of the threat of a hacker doing something similar on a larger scale: taking control of a fleet of cars to cause havoc and chaos on the streets of a city.
The UN has even warned as much, suggesting that terrorists could hijack AI-driven vehicles to carry out attacks without the need for a suicide bomber - labelling them potential ‘slaughterbots’.
The report states clearly that ‘increased autonomy in cars could well be an amenable development for terrorist groups’.I don’t agree entirely with that sentiment and think we should be excited about autonomous vehicles and other interconnected systems.
The company I run, Qbee, exists to facilitate connected systems and help them run with the least complexity possible. However, what the UN is highlighting underscores the need for appropriate security measures.
The tech driving these innovations has exploded rapidly and with its massive expansion comes a massively increased area of vulnerability.
Luckily we already know what steps need to be taken. Protecting a fleet of cars is conceptually similar to protecting any other network of interconnected devices.
Take a phone for example; safeguarding it requires protecting the hardware, the cloud services and internet source it connects to, the sensors (like the camera and the GPS tracking) among other things.
To protect these systems a holistic approach has to be taken, converting all these bases and, crucially, with constant monitoring for suspicious activity and regular stress-testing.
Governments approving robotaxi schemes should be able to assess to their satisfaction whether the company implementing them has taken the necessary precautions.
The increase in remote access and interconnectedness means a higher chance of these so-called ‘swarm attacks’.
And as shown in the examples above, companies at the forefront of the tech haven’t always shown they can be responsible for people’s safety.
Steffan Roxrud Thorvaldsen is the CEO of connected device management platform Qbee
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