Any vehicle with Onstar has this as an intentional feature. The feature was introduced in 2009.

Electronic ignition interlocks have been common on most vehicles over the past 20 years too... the only reason you can't remotely prevent most other cars from starting is simply software.

https://www.toyota.com/connected-services/remoteconnect/

https://owner.ford.com/fordpass/fordpass-sync-connect.html

https://www.nissanusa.com/connect/features-apps.html

https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en/blue-link

etc...

Since all the hardware exists, all you have to do is find an exploit: https://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-hig...

Thanks for helping raise awareness about these too. It’s a scary world out there when the devices people rely on can work against them on the whim of another.

Imagine a $5000 ransom popping up in your HUD or your car will automatically drive off a bridge.

Doors and windows are locked and you have 120 seconds.

As long as it is not brake by wire you are fine for ransoms if you are stationary.

I am quite scared of internet connected cars that can steer the wheel automatically though. That is madness.

Thats not a good plan - most people wont be able to transfer $5000 in 120 seconds just because it is not sitting in the cureen t account tied to your card.

It will use hacked Equifax credit reports to generate an amount that you are most likely to have with 95% confidence.

Secondly, Tesla owners tend to be more affluent. Imagine a cyberpunk world where ransomware attacks are a fact of life: buy cheap cars with reasonable security and minimise your total cost of ownership. Heh.

you can do small installments and make it seem normal

You choose "PAY", put in your bank account PIN, the car drives off the bridge anyway and the virus erases itself from the car.

It would be much better for future business to have stories circulating from people who were safe after paying the ransom.

It is very likely that whatever you are driving today, if it was manufactured in the past two decades in Europe, North America, Brazil, Korea, or Japan, will not let you shift into Drive (automatic) without depressing the brake pedal.

And there's also universally an override to that interlock and the manual tells you exactly where it is. Usually you just pop off a little cover on the gear shift and depress a mechanical button under that cover with the key to the car or any thin enough piece of metal long enough to reach. If Tesla doesn't have something equivalent for charging cables that can be used by the owner then that's a flaw with Tesla. There's a reason why everyone else has an override.