Clapway: laser

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Crazy about #cars? If you"re thinking about purchasing an #autonomous car, this will make you think again. Turns out a homemade #laser might be enough to bring your vehicle to a screeching stop. - http://clapway.com/2015/09/08/homemade-laser-self-driving-car123/

A host of criticism is almost always to be expected with the introduction of new and potentially revolutionary technologies. Take for example, the Google self-driving car, which has been under the watchful eye of skeptics everywhere since the announcement of its anticipated release. In September of last year, as an example, four of 50 or so test vehicles got into accidents and a recent study also revealed that autonomous cars might even be too safe to drive effectively on human-dominated roads. So, when news of a homemade $60 laser – reportedly capable of disabling a self-driving car – surfaced on the web, we can’t say we were too surprised.

HOW TO HALT A SELF-DRIVING CAR

According to Jonathan Petit, a security researcher at Security Innovation, a simple “laser pointer” can trick a vehicle into perceiving objects ahead of it when there are none. How is this possible? Well, a self-driving car is fitted with sensors, lasers and GPS technology, according to PC Mag, which allow the vehicle to navigate without added assistance from a driver.

THE LASER TECHNOLOGY IS BEHIND THE HACK

Today, most self-driving cars rely on Lidar laser-ranging technology, which creates 3D renderings of the cars’ surroundings through laser pulses. Unfortunately, this means that any standard laser pen, fitted with a pulse generator, could produce “ghost-like” projections that easily confuse the self-driving car system into thinking objects are in its pathway.

“I can spoof thousands of objects and basically carry out a denial of service attack on the tracking system so it’s not able to track real objects,” Petit told IEEE Spectrum.

For the time being, the hack has not been proven to work in a real life situation, as Petit has only tested it on the Lidar system itself. However, his test does highlight the need for more thorough testing to be conducted before any autonomous vehicles hit the road anytime soon. In the meantime, Petit’s findings will be presented at the Black Hat Europe conference, taking place in November.

Concerned about the safety of autonomous or self-driving cars? You should opt for a skateboard instead. At least you’ll be cruising in style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uvFIozLuAg

Homemade Laser Can Disable A Self-Driving Car

Saturday, August 29, 2015

The world"s largest aerospace company must dislike people flying #drones where they shouldn’t because #Boeing has built a #laser cannon to deal with them. - http://clapway.com/2015/08/29/boeing-laser-cannon-kill-drones-110/

Boeing must be annoyed by people flying drones where they shouldn’t be because the world’s largest aerospace company has built a laser cannon to deal with them.

DRONE RESPONSIBLY

At this point it’s clear: the world is going the way of the drone, and as much as people might kick and scream, there is nothing that’s going to stop it from happening. So, that leaves us to the next issue at hand. We need to come together and not only create laws specific to flying drones, but we also need to learn some basic drone etiquette. You know, things such as not flying your drone in flight paths, above wildfires, or on the lawn of the White House.

INTRODUCING BOEING’S PORTABLE LASER CANNON

Boeing says it has a solution to these problems and more, and it comes in the form of a portable laser cannon. Now, before you get too excited at the thought of seeing a real life laser cannon in action, this isn’t the same laser cannon you’ve seen in movies. Instead, this is a portable solution that will simply burn holes into the drones they’re targeting, leaving little behind other than burning debris.

IS IT EFFECTIVE?

In short? Yes. Wired had the opportunity to see the device up close, and they described it as “insanely precise.” In the demo shown to Wired, Boeing used the laser cannon to burn holes in a UAV. After two seconds, the UAV was already on fire. Wired said that they didn’t see anything other than the UAV bursting into flames. There was no explosion, no crazy noise, and no visible beam.

There’s no indication to how far the laser can shoot, but Boeing representatives said they’re able to hit anything they can spot with binoculars. They also commented on how cheap and easy the device was to operate once everything is set up; noting that it only costs the electricity and manpower (one person) required to operate the laser.

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https://youtu.be/Uh73AjBjCN0

Boeing Developed a Laser Cannon to Kill Drones