[mike-cardwell]

You're thinking too small.

"it might link to a parking garage database of which parking slots are open"

Imagine creating a QR code, (or copying one that already exists) which tells the car to fetch information from http://your.competitor.example.com/. Then imagine going out late at night and sticking it on a busy motorway.

DOS by traffic.

Also. You better hope that your car doesn't have any vulnerabilities that can be abused by a specially crafted QR code, or by fetching specially crafted data that a QR code prompts it to fetch.

[VBprogrammer]

You're thinking way too tin hat.

While we're there we better do something about all those people using radio jammers to down auto-landing aircraft.

Also, you better hope their are no vulnerabilities in the automatically driven mono-rail / train system you are riding in.

These type of issues are going to be discussed to the end of the earth but I can't wait to see driverless cars make their way from the lab to the car dealer.

As far as introduction, I would bet these features will be added to high-end luxury models and quite possibly initially limited to main roads (motorways / interstates) where the chances of encountering something unusual are lower. With the addition of a fair splattering of warning labels.

[nitrogen]

Quote from VBprogrammer:

You're thinking way too tin hat.

I very, very rarely resort to ad hominem, least of all on HN, but your nickname says it all (if indeed VB refers to Visual Basic). Far too many computer problems of yore were created by VB programmers not being nearly "tin hat" enough. When engineering systems which can damage other systems or cause bodily harm, one's responsibility is to anticipate, mitigate, and prevent the worst case scenario to the maximum extent possible.

[VBprogrammer]

Well VBprogrammer is a moniker I've used since I was 14. I now work for a company building websites which have thousands of hits a minute, require PCI compliance and use a variety of tools, none of which are Visual Basic.

Given that you resorted to ad hominem I assume you have no other reasonable arguments against what I said.

[nitrogen]

I understand the desire to keep an old handle. Regarding your last paragraph, I believe my second sentence stands on its own, and that others have said anything else I might care to express. Basically, with something that has the potential to maim and kill (like self-driving cars), I expect engineers to take every precaution.

[mike-cardwell]

It's called speculation. I am fully aware that they will prevent issues like this from happening. It's still interesting to consider them though. In the end, somebody has to take these issues into consideration.

[thomaslangston]

If that's all it takes to DOS your competitor, well, I don't think you have much to worry about from them. Even a busy motorway doesn't have that many cars passing over it per minute.

Also you're going out on a highway, at night, to lay down a big sticker. That's dangerous, suspicious, and illegal (before we even considering what the sticker does). If you want to DOS a competitor there are much more effective and safe ways to do so.

[tvon]

Also consider that with self driving cars, passengers will likely pay a decreasing amount of attention to what's going on outside of the vehicle.