Self-driving cars can be tricked by mirrors: Here's how
A recent study from France and Germany found that simply attaching mirrors to traffic cones can fool the lidar systems in self-driving cars.
These mirrors can either hide real objects or create fake ones, making the car think something's there when it isn't—or miss something that really is.
Researchers called these tricks "object removal attack" and "object addition attack," and they specifically impacted vehicles running Autoware software.
Lidar, a tech used by many autonomous vehicles, is easy
The findings highlight a big challenge: lidar, a key tech for many autonomous vehicles, is pretty easy to mess with.
If lidar gets confused by simple hacks like these, cars could stop suddenly or ignore real hazards.
While some companies (like Tesla) use cameras instead of lidar, those systems have their own issues—think sun glare messing up what the car sees.
The bottom line? Self-driving tech still has some serious safety hurdles to clear before it's totally ready for everyday roads.