Connected Car Security
Analysis—From Gas to
Fully Electric
In 2014, a Sierra Leonean doctor in Nebraska and a Liberian visitor in Dallas,
Texas, died of the deadly disease Ebola. This caused a media frenzy in the US and made a lot
of citizens concerned about contracting the disease, even though one is more likely to die
from one’s pajamas catching fire than from Ebola. Pajamas aside, we do have a tendency to
underestimate and overestimate things that may kill us. Cancer and heart disease are known
to be the leading causes of death, yet our attention often focuses on improbable scenarios
such as dying in an airplane crash. The numbers speak otherwise: passengers have a 1 in 11
million chance of being killed in a plane crash. Yet our chances of being killed in a car crash
are 1 in 5,000, and most of us get into a car on a daily basis without giving it a second
thought.
Car accidents can be a result of distracted driving, speeding, drunk driving, bad weather,
running red lights, car defects, unsafe lane changes, improper turns, tailgating, road rage, bad
roads, tire blowouts, fog, or animal crossings. Most people reading this book either have been
in a minor or major car accident or know someone who has.
Despite the risks posed by cars and driving, society gains tremendous benefits from peo-
ple having personal transport vehicles. Individuals in cities and towns that lack a good public
transport infrastructure depend on having a car to get to work and back home and to run
errands. From the 12-day traffic jam in China in 2010 to the 2.5-million-car, 48-hour traffic
jam in Houston caused by people attempting to flee the city from an oncoming hurricane, we
have seen clear evidence that many cities around the world would come to a halt should the
personal vehicle infrastructure be disrupted.
157CHAPTER 6