>>>>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/28/birmingham_uni_car_cracker_muzzled_by_lords/
>>>
>>>Saw this about the U.S. guys : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23443215
>>>
>>>Maybe I'll hook into the ECU and write a software driven cruise control for my van......
>>
>>Next I expect to see an open source CarOS. With no back doors, unless it's the fifth door of the vehicle itself.
>
>Written by a dipstick ?

BSoD can have new meaning if it's your car computer.... Speaking off things that could happen with car computer... A friend of mine was driving his car down the road one day and it started acting oddly as he accelerated and the engine started to sputter. A moment later, engine cut out, and the instruments went dead. A second or two later, the engine restarted itself, and the instruments came back on -- apparently what happened was that some input values from the sensors were giving "out of range" values that caused computer to grab "garbage values" outside the bounds of the lookup tables, and so the computer rebooted itself (while the car was rolling).

It's also interesting to note that many cars features (such as seat belt warning buzzer) can be turned on or off using sequences reminiscent of the videogame "Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right B, A" sequences. For example it could be something like clip and unclip the seatbelt three times, turn ignition key on (but don't start) then off twice, clip then unclip seatbelt, then turn ignition on (but not start) again -- all within a 30-second window.