US seeks to mandate anti-hacking defences for self-driving cars

Autonomous vehicles sold in the United States will need to be equipped with defence mechanisms against cyber security attacks should a new bill passed by the House of Representatives make it into law.

Section 5 of the Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research In Vehicle Evolution - SELF DRIVE - Act states [pdf] that no highly or partly automated vehicles can be sold in the US without a detailed cyber security plan.

The plan must have a written policy that details how a manufacturer will detect and respond to cyber attacks, unauthorised intrusions, as well as false and spurious vehicle control commands.

Manufacturers are expected to develop processes to prevent vehicle hacks and have incident response plans in place to deal with threats, the bill states.

Employee training and cyber security officers within autonomous vehicle makers would also be required.

The SELF DRIVE Act seeks to establish a federal framework for the regulation of autonomous vehicle technology in the United States.

It would increase the number of tests allowed on US roads from 2500 annually to an initial 25,000 and up to 100,000 within three years.

Automakers would need to prove that their autonomous vehicle is as safe as a human-operated version before being granted the ability to test out their vehicle.

The bill still has to pass the US Senate to become law.