--- title: "Hackers Use Billboards to Trick Self-Driving Cars Into Slamming on the Brakes" description: "Israeli security researchers have figured out how to trick self-driving cars into slamming on the brakes by flicking an image of a stop sign on a billboard." date: "2020-10-12" modified: "2020-10-12" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/hackers-billboards-self-driving-cars-slamming-brakes" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Self-Driving Vehicles" tags: - "autopilot" - "Self-driving cars" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Hackers Use Billboards to Trick Self-Driving Cars Into Slamming on the Brakes ![Israeli security researchers have figured out how to trick self-driving cars into slamming on the brakes by flicking an image of a stop sign on a billboard.]() *\Image: Will Porada via Unsplash/Futurism\* ## Braking Hearts Israeli security researchers have figured out how to trick self-driving cars into slamming on the brakes by flickering an image of a stop sign on a digitally-controlled billboard — a hack, they [told *Wired*](), that could cause traffic jams or even accidents. "The attacker just shines an image of something on the road or injects a few frames into a digital billboard, and the car will apply the brakes or possibly swerve, and that's dangerous," Ben Gurion University researcher Yisroel Mirsky told the magazine. "The driver won't even notice at all. So somebody's car will just react, and they won't understand why." ## Billboard 100 As Gurion alluded to above, the team's research [initially focused]() on shining images onto the road to trigger autonomous cars' systems into doing something they shouldn't. But then they realized that it would be more convenient to access connected digital billboards, *Wired* reports — and they found, in the course of their research, that they only needed to flash an image of a stop sign for a fraction. ## Stop on Pop The team managed to con a Tesla running the company's most recent version of Autopilot, according to *Wired*. Most worryingly, perhaps, is that the hack would require little hardware and leave behind no evidence. "Previous methods leave forensic evidence and require complicated preparation," Ben Gurion researcher Ben Nassi told the magazine. "Phantom attacks can be done purely remotely, and they do not require any special expertise." **READ MORE:** [Split-Second ‘Phantom’ Images Can Fool Tesla’s Autopilot]() \[*Wired*\] **More on Tesla:** *[Elon Musk: In Future Teslas, “Structural Battery” Will Be Part of the Car’s Frame]()* ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()