THE ELON GIVETH. Not all of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s tweets are cryptic — sometimes, a tweet is just a tweet. On Saturday morning, Musk tweeted that he plans to share the source code for Tesla’s security software — code designed to ensure hackers can’t take control of an autonomous vehicle — with other automakers.
“Great Q&A @defcon last night. Thanks for helping make Tesla & SpaceX more secure!” Tesla’s CEO tweeted. “Planning to open-source Tesla vehicle security software for free use by other car makers. Extremely important to a safe self-driving future for all.”
MOSTLY ALTRUISTIC. This wouldn’t be the first time Tesla released some of its source code — back in May, the automaker shared code for the Autopilot and infotainment systems that runs in the Model S and Model X.
And while sharing all this code might seem like a wholly charitable gesture on the surface, Tesla could actually benefit from it. By open-sourcing Tesla’s security code, Musk is giving experts beyond Tesla’s own staff a chance to sift out any vulnerabilities within in. As Engadget points out, the move could also set the company up as the market leader for autonomous vehicle security, a position that might help the company win customers now and in the future.
CAN’T WAIT ON MUSK. When (or even if) will Musk make good on this promise to open-source Tesla’s security code? That’s anybody’s guess — after all, the CEO does have a penchant for tweeting from the hip, so many he’ll change his mind.
Whether automakers base their security code on Tesla’s or not, though, they’ll need to make sure security is a top priority as autonomous cars develop and become more commonplace.
READ MORE: Tesla Will Open Its Security Code to Other Car Manufacturers [Engadget]
More on autonomous vehicle security: The World’s First Ethical Guidelines for Driverless Cars