[Theodores]

The legacy automakers have been cramming ever more ECUs into their cars, at a considerable cost expense. Tesla did something different with the big screen and one 'big computer' rather than a bevvy of ECUs. This appears to be the design pattern going forward, as evidenced by VW's investment in Rivian, where they also go for the 'big computer' approach.

It seems to me that the security of Tesla cars is pretty good, compared to that of the legacy automakers. You can't hotwire a Tesla.

Securing one computer is relatively easy when compared to the challenge of securing a veritable forest of hardware, as made by numerous suppliers.

Regarding the way that general attacks on car security systems happen, something has gone wrong with how all of it has been implemented. RFID works fine in many other applications, but they are doing it 'back to front' with automotive and it is just too easy to hack. I am not even sure it has been for features people really want. Remotely opening the car before you get in it has convenience value but we got in trouble with that.

[numpad0]

Wasn't Tesla basically a Toyota until recently? The big dash computer was just a car equivalent of Nest thermostat, at least when I looked at it, it could have been an Arduino with a key cylinder and the car would work fine.

[ocdtrekkie]

You can't hotwire a Tesla, but the manufacturer can, and can stop you from driving it too. I am not sure on the whole I prefer that option.

[lotsofpulp]

All the other new car seem like they are coming with integrated modems also, so I presume they have the same capability of stopping you from driving the car too.