Police Can Disable New Cars on Demand

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Police Can Disable New Cars on Demand (Page 1 of 4)

Posted: 10/11/2007 9:44:31 AM EDT

Guess you wont be able to run road blocks, speed away from the po-po, etc. This should put all the tin-foil hat wearers in a tizzy!

Police Can Disable New Cars on Demand
www.livescience.com/technology/071010-onstar-police.html

By Bill Christensen

posted: 10 October 2007 12:23 pm ET

General Motors plans to equip 1.7 million of its 2009 models with a system that allows OnStar operators to cut engine power in the car if the police request it. The system was demonstrated in Washington, D.C. today.

GM's OnStar system already contains built-in GPS tracking that would allow police to find any OnStar-equipped vehicle. With the new technology, if the police request it, an OnStar operator will inform the occupants of the vehicle and then cut power. The engine will be slowed to idle speed, to allow the driver to move to the side of the road. Brakes and other electrical functions of the vehicle will still work.

The intent of the system is to cut down on the number of police chases, which can be dangerous for both bystanders and police. A recent study showed that from 1994 through 2002, there were 2,654 crashes involving 3,965 vehicles and 3,146 fatalities during police pursuits.

The idea for this capability was showcased recently in science fiction author Greg Bear's book Quantico. In the novel, a near-future story about biotech and the war on terror, police could use Cop Block to stop a car or truck in its tracks.

"...When the truck's driver ignored his lights and siren and the trucks failed to respond to Cop Block, the patrolman became aware he might have a situation..."

All cars and trucks in the U.S. were now required to have Cop Block. A patrol car could radio a coded signal that slowed and then shut down the engine.
(Read more about Cop Block)

GM also stated that the owner of the vehicle may opt out of the service upon request. GM's research has indicated that 95% of current OnStar subscribers would like to participate.

Take a look at other initiatives to make the roads safer, like the prototype car seat and Nissan Pivo 2 in-dash robot, which try to detect drivers sleeping behind the wheel. Read an interview with Greg Bear about Quantico. Story via ABC News.

Posted: 10/11/2007 9:54:30 AM EDT

[#1]

Better living through science?

Posted: 10/11/2007 9:54:31 AM EDT

[#2]

I'll be waiting for them to get the license plate number wrong and shut off the wrong car, causing a huge accident on the highway.

Posted: 10/11/2007 9:56:03 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:

Quoted:
We'll you can guarantee I won't be buying any GM products with this. Hackers wet dream indeed.

+1

Mopar or no car.

Fuggin' A. I've NEVER been a GM fan, and this sure as Hell isn't helping.

Posted: 10/11/2007 9:56:08 AM EDT

[#4]

Who the hell buys a GM car anymore

Posted: 10/11/2007 9:59:29 AM EDT

[#5]

Isn't On Star an option? Don't purchase it? Or remove it?

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:03:19 AM EDT

[#6]

The Immobilizer function has been out for a while apparently.

A friend was telling me about traffic school a couple of years ago. One of the guys in there tried to run and "got hit with the Immobilizer"

The actual term escapes me at the moment.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:03:55 AM EDT

[#7]

Opt out! Thanks!

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:05:33 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Imagine if they catch you SMOKING in your car...

I think it is bullshit. Godforbid there comes a time that there is a regime in power that has socialized everything, and start going after persons of "interest" such as former gun owners, or NRA members or Arfcom members. Onstar will track you and the cops will stop you and search you because your "associations" are probable cause.

its coming....

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:05:39 AM EDT

[#9]

The airbag warning may be on some models of Onstar. If you unplug or remove it, a warning code may light up on the dash.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:07:52 AM EDT

[#10]

One more reason I'll never own a computerized car/truck, unless I build the EFI driver stack myself.

Carbs, pushrod V8s, and real steel FTW.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:08:01 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Isn't On Star an option? Don't purchase it? Or remove it?

Yes. You don't have to buy it if you don't want to.

Hopefully this announcement will cause sales of OnStar-equipped cars to drop, but I'm not optimistic.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:11:02 AM EDT

[#12]

All this "Big brother" bullshit is just getting surreal.

They want to control every goddamn part of your life.

My Suburban came equipped with Onstar... and guess what ? It's the first friggin thing I disconnected. It also came with automatic headlights... just in case I'm too fucking stupid to turn them on when it gets dark.
I promptly disconnected the auto-headlight function right after it almost caused me an accident.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:20:24 AM EDT

[#13]

I can see the complaints from women now - "my car stopped working and this cop showed up to help, and immediately started hitting on me".

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:21:03 AM EDT

[#14]

police state, here we come.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:21:26 AM EDT

[#15]

Big brother is everywhere.

We are installing wireless antennas that communicate with your electric meter. Not just recieving but also transmitting. It's a prototype system. The tech rep said the power comapny will be able to regulate your power usage and also be able to disconnect you remotely..

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:26:14 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
Big brother is everywhere.

We are installing wireless antennas that communicate with your electric meter. Not just recieving but also transmitting. It's a prototype system. The tech rep said the power comapny will be able to regulate your power usage and also be able to disconnect you remotely..

Not if that wireless antenna somehow gets fucked up. "Oops, that tree branch hit it while I was pruning."

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:26:53 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
potential police abuse is one side of the coin, OTOH, if you GM car is stolen (is that a bad thing?

) supposedly the police would be able to disable it thus aiding in it's recovery...if it hasn't been stripped for parts yet.

I imagine many thieves would know how to disable it pretty easily and would probably be one of the first things they do.

Might stop punk joyrider kids though.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:27:11 AM EDT

[#18]

Eh, I thought OnStar has done this all along?

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:27:22 AM EDT

[#19]

Imagine the gridlock that a talented hacker could create.

I wouldn't want the feature just because it would be one more thing to go wrong at the least opprotune moment.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:28:47 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:

Quoted:
potential police abuse is one side of the coin, OTOH, if you GM car is stolen (is that a bad thing?

) supposedly the police would be able to disable it thus aiding in it's recovery...if it hasn't been stripped for parts yet.

I imagine many thieves would know how to disable it pretty easily and would probably be one of the first things they do.

Might stop punk joyrider kids though.

Maybe for now, eventually they will probably build this functionality into the car's ECU so there is no way to remove it short of replacing the ECU.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:29:11 AM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:

Quoted:
We'll you can guarantee I won't be buying any GM products with this. Hackers wet dream indeed.

+1

Mopar or no car.

Isn't that the same thing?

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:29:28 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
One more reason I'll never own a computerized car/truck, unless I build the EFI driver stack myself.

Carbs, pushrod V8s, and real steel FTW.

Quoted:
And this is why I will never buy a new car.

Yep. No airbag, no SkyNet, and NO automatic transmissions!!

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:30:51 AM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
Big brother is everywhere.

We are installing wireless antennas that communicate with your electric meter. Not just recieving but also transmitting. It's a prototype system. The tech rep said the power comapny will be able to regulate your power usage and also be able to disconnect you remotely..

Allready have that here, but no antenna, the electric meter sends signals to the power compnay through the electric power line, mine was installed yesterday. The old meter connected to the power company through my home phone land line.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:31:03 AM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:

Quoted:
potential police abuse is one side of the coin, OTOH, if you GM car is stolen (is that a bad thing?

) supposedly the police would be able to disable it thus aiding in it's recovery...if it hasn't been stripped for parts yet.

I imagine many thieves would know how to disable it pretty easily and would probably be one of the first things they do.

Might stop punk joyrider kids though.

Maybe for now, eventually they will probably build this functionality into the car's ECU so there is no way to remove it short of replacing the ECU.

How long do you think before the pro car thieves come up with a "universal" ECU. Say, some bluetooth device that slips into the ECU slot and transmits remotely to a laptop that has all car ECU configurations downloaded into it.

The car thief just needs to click on the correct model of car and off he goes.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:36:30 AM EDT

[#25]

Fuck this. If such a thing is made mandatory on all vehicles, I'm going to be one of those people who disables it. My car does not need a remote-control "off" switch.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:38:53 AM EDT

[#26]

Let me guess, cops won't have this option installed.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:44:33 AM EDT

[#27]

Keep that shit away from me.

I do have some experience with OnStar and teir GPS tracking, and if this works as well as that does, we're quite safe. Last time I dealt with an OnStar operator about a vehicle that had been involved in a crash, they narrowed the location down to about a one square mile area.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:48:38 AM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
This is a hacker's wet dream.

Yup. Car jackers will just go high-tech, and wait for folks to get out in the middle-of-nowhere.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:49:05 AM EDT

[#29]

Think of all the people who live so far away from their jobs that they have to drive in to work.

Then imagine that a group like Hamas or something, hacks the code & shuts all these cars down. Not only would there be wrecks, but imagine the damage to the economy when thousands of people don't show up for work.

If one man can code something, another man can de-code something.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:51:10 AM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:
The Immobilizer function has been out for a while apparently.

A friend was telling me about traffic school a couple of years ago. One of the guys in there tried to run and "got hit with the Immobilizer"

The actual term escapes me at the moment.

Is that what they used in one of those "Fast and the Furious" movies?

I swore I'd never watch it, but I was getting some stuff installed at a custom shop and they had that on ~ 6 TVs around the place.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:53:40 AM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Big brother is everywhere.

We are installing wireless antennas that communicate with your electric meter. Not just recieving but also transmitting. It's a prototype system. The tech rep said the power comapny will be able to regulate your power usage and also be able to disconnect you remotely..

Allready have that here, but no antenna, the electric meter sends signals to the power compnay through the electric power line, mine was installed yesterday. The old meter connected to the power company through my home phone land line.

Soon they are gonna be able to transmit to your meter. I installed a transmitter array this afternoon that will do just that on a test bed set of prototype meters that will be able to regulate your power consumption and to discionnect you completely at the touch of a button. tamper with it and I guess you get in trouble..

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:54:57 AM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
Let me guess, cops won't have this option installed.

LEO exemption. Guess LEO duty vehicles will be the new target market for car thieves.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:55:45 AM EDT

[#33]

So after Hillary is President again for 8 years, then Al Gore gets in, Gore could accidentally press the button and shut down all vehicles. He's probably been pushing for a button like this for years.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:56:00 AM EDT

[#34]

Good.

OnStar doesn't do this already, that I am aware of.

Our 2005 TrailBlazer has OnStar already and we use the hands-free calling, which pretty much pays for itself.

I like having the peace of mind of Onstar, God forbid my mom has an accident. You can say "carry a cell phone" but what good is a phone if you're incapacitated to a point where you can't dial or talk?

Flame me, but this is a good thing. Even if someone were to steal our TrailBlazer, I'd rather the engine shut off than it wrapped around a tree.

Posted: 10/11/2007 10:58:22 AM EDT

[#35]

Quoted:
So after Hillary is President again for 8 years, then Al Gore gets in, Gore could accidentally press the button and shut down all vehicles. He's probably been pushing for a button like this for years.

No, Gore wants a button for shutting down the Internets. Al Gore: "INTARWEBZ ! I brought you into this world and I can take you out !"

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:00:47 AM EDT

[#36]

height=8

Quoted:
Between them playing kiss-ass to the UAW, and this shit means GM will never see a penny from me.

Shame, I really wanted a Silverado, but Toyota Tundra seems like a much better bet.

You might want to look into the 5.7 with the self destructing cam shafts.

Onstar is optional and can be disabled very easily. Furthermore customers will have to pay for this service.

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:03:30 AM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:
Who the hell buys a GM car anymore

\

Old people seem to buy Buicks. 90% of the Buicks on the road have a grey haired driver at the wheel.

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:05:11 AM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Who the hell buys a GM car anymore

\

Old people seem to buy Buicks. 90% of the Buicks on the road have a grey haired driver at the wheel.

Hey! I own a Buick and I don't have gray hair.

Well, not too much. You can't really notice it until you're up close.

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:09:21 AM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:
This is a hacker's wet dream.

Or a mad on-star operators. I can see the situation now.

Mark, as you boss I have noticed that your work isn't quite up to expectation. Please get you effects together and do not show up tomarrow.

Mark... walks over to desk and makes ever vehicle with on-star stop. TRAFFIC JAM, CAR ACCIDENTS, MASS PANIC!!!!!

NOT.

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:10:12 AM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:
This is a hacker's wet dream.

Yep. This isn't going to have the intended outcome.

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:10:57 AM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:

Onstar is optional and can be disabled very easily. Furthermore customers will have to pay for this service.

OnStar is a standard on the TrailBlazers. I believe also Tahoes but not sure.

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:14:04 AM EDT

[#42]

GM Owners even if you don't pay for it its there and most likely can be turned on even if you don't suscribe

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:14:20 AM EDT

[#43]

Quoted:
One more reason I'll never own a computerized car/truck, unless I build the EFI driver stack myself.

Carbs, pushrod V8s, and real steel FTW.

+1

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:16:47 AM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:
Keep that shit away from me.

I do have some experience with OnStar and teir GPS tracking, and if this works as well as that does, we're quite safe. Last time I dealt with an OnStar operator about a vehicle that had been involved in a crash, they narrowed the location down to about a one square mile area.

I delt with one case,
When onstar told the state police where the location of the car was, It was very close to being where they said. Just over the road bank. If the officer would have got out to look over the edge he would have scene it. Onstar called police with a airbag deployment accident and no response.

Onstar called again later (and the drivers wife reported him missing) and the driver was found deceased in the vehicle.

We have a used minivan with onstar, but it doesn't have an antenna anymore. I don't know how to remove it or I would.

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:20:22 AM EDT

[#45]

Quoted:
Good.

OnStar doesn't do this already, that I am aware of.

Our 2005 TrailBlazer has OnStar already and we use the hands-free calling, which pretty much pays for itself.

I like having the peace of mind of Onstar, God forbid my mom has an accident. You can say "carry a cell phone" but what good is a phone if you're incapacitated to a point where you can't dial or talk?

Flame me, but this is a good thing. Even if someone were to steal our TrailBlazer, I'd rather the engine shut off than it wrapped around a tree.

I'm not so enthused about sacrificing my freedoms

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:21:23 AM EDT

[#46]

My electric meter and water meter send out signals everyday with my usage data.

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:24:26 AM EDT

[#47]

Quoted:

I'm not so enthused about sacrificing my freedoms

you guys need to loosen the tinfoil. I read a letter in Motor Trend a few years ago where a big-wig at OnStar said they don't hack into your personal info, and info is only given to LE when in case of emergency. OnStar can already get diagnostic information from the powertrain.

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:26:19 AM EDT

[#48]

Quoted:

Quoted:

I'm not so enthused about sacrificing my freedoms

you guys need to loosen the tinfoil. I read a letter in Motor Trend a few years ago where a big-wig at OnStar said they don't hack into your personal info, and info is only given to LE when in case of emergency. OnStar can already get diagnostic information from the powertrain.

Its not paranoia man, it's common sense. All of these things are coming, and if you dont think it will infringe on your personal life and everything private than you are naive.

And I dont give a shit about what "some OnStar big-wig" has to say. There are evil, corrupt people in the world and technology is EASY prey to anyone determined enough.

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:28:08 AM EDT

[#49]

Quoted:

Quoted:

I'm not so enthused about sacrificing my freedoms

you guys need to loosen the tinfoil. I read a letter in Motor Trend a few years ago where a big-wig at OnStar said they don't hack into your personal info, and info is only given to LE when in case of emergency. OnStar can already get diagnostic information from the powertrain.

Yeah, then it can e-mail you or send a text message to your cellpone.................

When I can call it back and le it know I'll be beating it like a rented mule, and it understands, then it will something other than an annoying electronic beep/reminder.

Posted: 10/11/2007 11:29:11 AM EDT

[#50]

Quoted:

Quoted:
All this "Big brother" bullshit is just getting surreal.

They want to control every goddamn part of your life.

My Suburban came equipped with Onstar... and guess what ? It's the first friggin thing I disconnected. It also came with automatic headlights... just in case I'm too fucking stupid to turn them on when it gets dark.
I promptly disconnected the auto-headlight function right after it almost caused me an accident.

Please elaborate on a situation where headlights coming on could cause an accident.

It's when they went OFF unexpectedly... that I had a problem.

Seems if you press the domelight override button 3 or 4 times, it disables the auto headlight feature.
Just so happens I was doing that while driving down a dark country road one night...thinking I was pressing the foglight button.
When auto headlights are enabled, the headlight switch normally stays on the "off" position. When the headlight switch is in the OFF position, and the auto headlamp function is disabled... BANG... NO HEADLIGHTS.
Luckily, I was able to get stopped fast enough to digest what just happenned without actually hitting anything.
Scared the friggin CRAP out of me.

Imagine driving down a twisty, winding country road at night when all of a sudden... "pitch black"... NO headlights.
At first I thought a fuse popped... Once I got stopped, I turned the headlight switch to the ON position and averything was fine...

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Police Can Disable New Cars on Demand (Page 1 of 4)

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