PODCAST: Legislating Your Car or Hacking Your Car: Which Is Worse?

Legislators were almost as busy as we were this week, with the Senate approving an exemption for auto dealers from a financial services regulation bill. Meanwhile, a House panel approved a far-reaching auto-safety bill, requiring that all cars be equipped with advanced-brake systems, "black box" data recorders and other technology in the next few years.


Honda jumped on the safety bandwagon, promising to add brake-override systems on all of its Honda- and Acura-brand vehicles in the U.S. by the end of 2011. They also did a great job handling the recall of David's Odyssey minivan at his local Honda dealer.

SAIC's YeZ concept car.

And Mercedes jumped on the iPad bandwagon by announcing a test of using the Apple devices in dealers to speed sales.


And now something else to fear, your car is susceptible to being hacked, and that risk is probably going to get worse.


IBM doesn't want to hack your car, but it is developing a system that would allow traffic signals to control your car, so in the future, if you run a red light the engine will shut off.


Finally, a company develops a concept car that would use photosynthesis to generate electricity, which sparks a discussion about why we don't have little wind generators to recharge the battery at speed.

GetThisShowOnTheRoad May 27, 2010.mp3