Big blow for Elon Musk? 25 Tesla cars HACKED, claims teenager; tweet goes viral

A 19-year-old security researcher claims to have hacked remotely into more than 25 Tesla cars in 13 countries.

Teenager claimed he can see if a driver is present in the Tesla car, turn on the vehicles’ stereo sound systems and flash their headlights. (REUTERS)

A 19-year-old security researcher claims to have hacked remotely into more than 25 Tesla Inc. cars in 13 countries, saying in a series of tweets that a software flaw allowed him to access the EV pioneer's systems. David Colombo, a self-described information technology specialist, tweeted Tuesday that the Elon Musk led company's cars had a software flaw that allowed him to unlock doors and windows, start the cars without keys and disable their security systems.

Colombo also claimed he can see if a driver is present in the car, turn on the vehicles' stereo sound systems and flash their headlights. The teenager didn't reveal the exact details of the software vulnerability, but said it wasn't within Tesla's software or infrastructure, and added that only a small number of Tesla owners globally were affected. His Twitter thread elicited a robust response, with more than 800 retweets and over 6,000 likes.

“It's primarily the owners (& a third party) fault,” Colombo said in a response to questions from Bloomberg News. “This will be described more in detail in my writeup. But glad to see Tesla taking action now.”

A representative for Tesla in China declined to comment, while the carmaker's global press team didn't respond to an email seeking comment outside of West Coast business hours.

According to one online report, U.S.-based Tesla has a vulnerability disclosure platform where security researchers can register their own vehicles for testing, which Tesla can pre-approve. The company pays up to $15,000 for a qualifying vulnerability.

Colombo later tweeted he has been in touch with Tesla's security team, and said they were investigating the issue. The team said they will come back to him with any updates, he said.

California DMV reviewing approach to regulating Tesla self-driving test - report

(Reuters) - California is reevaluating Tesla Inc's Full Self-Driving (FSD) test program, to determine if the electric-car maker's software should fall under its motor vehicle department's autonomous vehicle regulations, the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.

FSD is an advanced driver assistance system that handles some driving tasks, but Tesla says it does not make vehicles completely autonomous. The features "require a fully attentive driver", according to the company.

If Tesla's cars are deemed autonomous by California, state laws would require it to disclose all crashes on public roads, even when under manual control. Those reports are made public, as is data on self-driving systems being disengaged.

California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) informed Tesla about the regulator's review last week, the Los Angeles Times said.

"Recent software updates, videos showing dangerous use of that technology, open investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the opinions of other experts in this space prompted the reevaluation," the DMV said, according to the report.

The DMV and Tesla did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

In October last year, Tesla vehicles with the then latest 10.3 FSD software repeatedly provided forward collision warnings when there was no immediate danger, according to video postings of beta users. However, Tesla fixed the software within a day.