A Dutch forensic team hacked into the data storage system of Tesla's electric vehicles, which opened up access to a huge amount of information collected by the machine in the process. This information can be useful in the investigation of car accidents, writes The Verge .
Image source: Reuters
It's no secret that Tesla's electric vehicles record information about their owners' driving behavior. This data is helping to improve the company's electronic driver assistance systems, which the company calls Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, and can also be of value to those involved in car accident investigations. However, Dutch investigators from the Netherlands Forensic Science Institute (NFI) found that the electric car's computer stores much more information than it was thought. In particular, information about the speed of the electric vehicle, the position of the accelerator pedal, the angle of the steering wheel and the use of the brakes is recorded in the database. Some of this data can be stored for a year.
Forensic investigators investigated an accident involving a Tesla electric car, into which another car drove after the Tesla autopilot unexpectedly braked. But instead of contacting Tesla directly to request the necessary information recorded by the on-board computer of the electric vehicle, the Dutch experts decided to resort to reverse engineering to figure out how the storage system works on their own and "objectively evaluate the data obtained . "
“This data provides a wealth of information for forensic experts and traffic accident analysts. She can help in the investigation of a criminal case following a fatal accident, ” says Francis Hoogendijk, specialist at the Netherlands Institute of Forensic Science.
The NFI noted that although Tesla has provided data in the past at the request of the Dutch government, much of the information that could have been useful in investigations has been overlooked. "Tesla provides only a certain set of requested data, tied to a specific time, while the computer logs contain more detailed information," says the report of NFI specialists.
Tesla encrypts its data to protect it from competing manufacturers. Tesla electric vehicle owners can request their data from the company, including post-accident camera footage. The autopilot of electric vehicles can also work in the so-called "shadow mode". In this case, it does not drive the vehicle, but allows the on-board computer to collect static data on false positives and false negatives. In other words, the car records events when one or another autopilot system is triggered, which allows the company's engineers to know if the autopilot could have avoided an accident in one case or another, if it happened.
Dutch investigators hope Tesla will continue to provide a broader range of information for investigators in the future.
“Cars are already more like other digital products with the ability to record and store important information than conventional cars. It would be good if this data became available to investigators. Now we know what more specific information can be obtained from Tesla to establish the cause of the accident, ”the institute said.
Tesla did not comment on the NFI report.
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