[korethr]

If I am understanding the article correctly, NHTSA asserts that to open up telematics to 3rd parties would allow remote attacks on multiple vehicles' safety-critical systems simultaneously. This implies telematics has remote control on those safety critical systems.

This raises a question for me: Why the actual fuck are safety-critical systems able to receive commands from anywhere other than the driver's controls or diagnostic port? Perhaps I am old-scool, naive, ignorant, etc, but given what "safety-critical" means, that strikes me as egregiously unacceptable.

I can sympathize with the idea of convenient remote diagnostic and repair, but in my opinion, this is a case where the saftey risk not just to the driver and passengers, but anyone else nearby, outweighs the convenience of logging into Ford's/BMW/Honda's website, click button, car works again.