Rise of the robocar: are connected cars safer, or a target for hackers?

A threshold was quietly crossed in the first quarter of 2016. For the first time, mobile carriers reported activating more connected cars than phones. At a vehicle tech demonstration in Manhattan this month, a group of reporters stood around a custom-made, tablet-screened display console as Darrin Shewchuk, a spokesman for Harman International, explained the impending technological revolution. "There will be more than 200m connected vehicles on the road around the world by 2020," Shewchuk said, outlining Harman's partnership with Samsung to create a new generation of in-vehicle technology. A blue-tinted graphic appeared on the console's screen depicting the vague outline of a human form floating in the midst of a number of devices – phone, car, "smart" house.