Stolen Tesla Tracked Through Mobile App

Pro Tip: If you are going to steal a car, you should probably stick to ones that can't be so easily tracked.

When a thief steals a car it can take owners days, week or even years to retrieve their property. Apparently that’s not the case when your vehicle happens to be a Tesla Model S: a Canadian couple was able to help authorities track their stolen car in real-time with the help of the Tesla mobile app.

car should have a passcode to unlock the system once you are in it, or a thumbprint scanner.

Zepher said:

car should have a passcode to unlock the system once you are in it, or a thumbprint scanner.

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A thumbprint scanner would be interesting. Do we have the technology for an accurate iris scanner yet? I fell that would be the next best thing.

or better yet...not leave the spare fob in the car, unattended.

It's weird that it even lets the car lock/unlock with a fob inside the car, I know in my RX-8 if I leave the key in the center console the sensors detect it is still inside and won't let me lock the door from the outside.

Finger print, iris scan etc is a bad idea, thieves will just cut your finger off or rip your eyes out. I rather keep those things, they can have the freaking car and I'll call my insurance, or remote detonate it when they're far enough from anyone else, THEN call the insurance.

Actually remote disable should be a thing on any car, as soon as the car is brought to a stop (don't want to disable it when it's speeding on the highway, but it has to stop at some point) it would just shut down and lock the person in till cops arrive.

Automakers will install GPS theft tracking on everything,

Starcrossed said:

Automakers will install GPS theft tracking on everything,

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I am really surprised this isn't standard already. Hardware for a GPS and cell modem would run about $10, even if integration cost are 50x that, it seems like it would pay off on lower insurance premiums. Granted then thieves would just smash the GPS antenna when stealing the car, but this could be made fairly difficult.

Red Squirrel said:

Finger print, iris scan etc is a bad idea, thieves will just cut your finger off or rip your eyes out. I rather keep those things, they can have the freaking car and I'll call my insurance, or remote detonate it when they're far enough from anyone else, THEN call the insurance.

Actually remote disable should be a thing on any car, as soon as the car is brought to a stop (don't want to disable it when it's speeding on the highway, but it has to stop at some point) it would just shut down and lock the person in till cops arrive.

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It will have a pulse and temp sensor for the finger print and the iris scanner will vary light levels to detect pupil dilation.

Zepher said:

It will have a pulse and temp sensor for the finger print and the iris scanner will vary light levels to detect pupil dilation.

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Yep. All that cutting off body parts stuff is hollywood movie bullshit and doesn't work with any modern fingerprint or iris scanner for the reasons you mentioned. The problem is the criminal is too stupid to know that and might attempt it anyways.

so telling the world that the car is tracked... means the next thief will look for the tracking software instead of getting caught? then again I guess anyone could find this out by buying one.

The most secure system is to leave it at home and they defeats the purpose of having a car. Finger print scanner come in many levels of quality the ones in phones are meh and do not check for a pulse. But pulses can be faked by vibrating the finger on the sensor. Physical keys can be picked but at least you see someone messing with the lock.

The fobs are risk becuase their are only so many wireless frequeces that can be used. I am starting to think that a system like the mmo have for the logins might actually be the best system where the car has a hashed password and the key fob sends a enycpted responce to a challenge phrase publickeyprivatekey system. The person would not even have to see anything just press a button and if they leave the fob inside they could enter a recent number or get a lock smith to verify they are the owner and enter a tempory passcode into a number pad. since the number changes looking at what buttons are pressed would not help a would be thief.

drakken said:

The fobs are risk becuase their are only so many wireless frequeces that can be used. I am starting to think that a system like the mmo have for the logins might actually be the best system where the car has a hashed password and the key fob sends a enycpted responce to a challenge phrase publickeyprivatekey system.

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From what I understand, the modern wireless key fobs already use an encrypted one time key authentication. At Defcon this year it was demonstrated a device called a RollJam that could capture and then jam the 1st unlock signal, requiring the car owner to press unlock a 2nd time. Later the 1st captured signal could be used to unlock the car and gain entry because the car never saw it and considers it authentic.

http://www.wired.com/2015/08/hackers-tiny-device-unlocks-cars-opens-garages/

Seems like a good reason to just use your actual key to unlock the door.

UnholyCarcass said:

A thumbprint scanner would be interesting. Do we have the technology for an accurate iris scanner yet? I fell that would be the next best thing.

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As a New England driver, I don't want to have to scrape ice and take off my gloves to get into my car.

Ocellaris said:

I am really surprised this isn't standard already. Hardware for a GPS and cell modem would run about $10, even if integration cost are 50x that, it seems like it would pay off on lower insurance premiums. Granted then thieves would just smash the GPS antenna when stealing the car, but this could be made fairly difficult.

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yeah at 50x that Lojack is STILL more expensive.

That said most of insurance is about collisions and less about theft.

UnholyCarcass said:

A thumbprint scanner would be interesting. Do we have the technology for an accurate iris scanner yet? I fell that would be the next best thing.

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I've worked in a data center that had pretty awesome iris scanners. I'm not certain if the tech would fit in a car, but I bet it would.