Tesla Model S Hacked by Chinese University Team

Just a few weeks after Elon Musk offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could successfully hack a Model S, a Chinese team from Zhejiang University has hacked the electric luxury sedan, reports the South China Monitoring Post. The team was able to remotely unlock the vehicle, change settings, sound the horn and flash the lights, and open the sunroof while the car was in motion. The vulnerabilities shown, imply that – given more time – unscrupulous users might possibly could maybe at some point gain access the interiors of parked Teslas, view their GPS trip history, check their contacts and/or check out whatever else you can check out from the central infotainment system.

Organizers say they have reported the vulnerability to Tesla. And Tesla, to its credit, seems to have welcomed news of its cars’ “flow design” vulnerability (that we reported on last year). “We support the idea of providing an environment in which responsible security researchers can help identify potential vulnerabilities,” the company said on Wednesday.

Interestingly, the Zhejiang University team won’t be collecting Musk’s $10,000 bounty, as the team had “not succeeded in the mission of hacking Tesla’s door and engine within the timeframe of the challenge.” Which, frankly, reads to me like sour PR grapes on Tesla’s part. Especially when I consider that I, for one, would be deeply concerned if I found out my car could be unlocked and turned on by a wireless laptop or mobile device.

John Pescatore, director for emerging security trends at the Sans Institute, told Fox News last week that Tesla, which recently announced plans to make all its technology and patents openly available, could be particularly vulnerable to hackers. “These new cars, especially hybrids, have a lot more software in them that has to be updated – these paths haven’t really been probed yet by hackers,” he said, before stating that Tesla’s currently “good” security reputation has come “mainly because no one has pounded on them, yet.”

Before you panic and start selling all your Tesla stock ahead of their gamble on battery futures coming up, however, keep in mind that this is Fox News we’re talking about, which makes Pescatore knowing his a** from a hole in the ground a 50/50 bet. Just, you know, keep an eye on your Tesla Model S when you upset the creepy bearded weirdo in the IT department.

Tesla Model S Hacked by Chinese Team

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Sources: South China Motoring Post, via Motorpasion.

China Exempts All EVs And Hybrids From 10% Sales Tax

With the goal of putting 500,000 “new energy” vehicles on its roads by the end of 2015, and 5 million on roads by 2020, China’s efforts to go green at ambitious to say the least. With just over 17,000 EVs and hybrids sold in 2013, the semi-communist country has a long, long way to go to meet that goal, though a new round of tax incentives could help tremendously.

Yesterday the Chinese government announced that all electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles would be exempt from that 10% national sales tax beginning on September 17th and running through 2017. Most importantly, this includes both domestic and imported green cars, which could help China become the biggest market for green cars over the next decade.

The central government is currently building a portfolio of eligible vehicles, and the Tesla Model S will almost certainly be at the top of that list. This latest national tax incentive joins a growing list of local incentives from cities like Beijing, which are offering tax credits and free license plates (valued at $15,000 or more in some cases) to buyers of green cars.

There’s still the matter of the lack of charging infrastructure though, and while there are plans to lay down massive public charging networks all across China, as America learned, those networks require years to take hold on in the public consciousness.

With these generous subsidies compelling more Chinese consumers to look at green cars though, perhaps China really is on its way to becoming the world’s biggest market for electric cars.

Source: Gas 2.