[jedunnigan]

I don't have a firm enough understanding of how the LIDAR and laser's work in these vehicles, but it occurs to me that it might be possible for a malicious actor to confuse the cars and cause accidents. That's concerning.

[icelancer]

This is true now with our current optical recognition devices. Try shining a laser in your eyes while you drive.

[jedunnigan]

Don't bother with the laser, just drive down the street and pass a car with HID headlights that aren't pointed directly towards the ground. At least in that situation your response will be to slow down (and hopefully the people behind you will see your brake lights).

But if someone can manipulate a LIDAR signal to confuse the car into thinking the road ahead is clear when it is not, well then the attack becomes much different.

[ericd]

Those LIDARs are a spinning array of lasers measuring time of flight for each laser as it spins. Each of ~64 lasers forms one scan line all around itself, and by taking all the scan lines together, they form a rough picture of the 3D structure of the surroundings. You can filter out aberrant inputs in software.

[jedunnigan]

Interesting, thanks!