Aydın Hasan - Important companies of the Turkish defense industry; It started not allowing foreign electric vehicles with advanced sensors, artificial intelligence, cameras and radar systems into its campuses. Electric vehicles with advanced features have begun to be considered risky in Turkey in terms of espionage activities and asymmetric attack threats.
TAI Engine Industry (TEI) General Manager Mahmut Faruk Akşit drew attention to the importance of security in the defense industry in his speech at the conference titled "Changing threats in the developing world, artificial intelligence, biology and genetics" held at the Islamic Sciences Institute in Yatağan District of Serinhisar district of Pamukkale University the previous evening. Akşit stated that TEI uses systems that are physically separated from the internet in order to protect critical information, and stated that especially the cameras, sensors and software of autonomous and electric vehicles should be evaluated in terms of security. Akşit said:
'They use it as a missile'
"If you simulate a war with artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence almost always uses cars as missiles. What does that mean? It uses them as guided missiles that walk on the ground. It takes control of the car. It nails you to the door of the military unit. You are in it, you are not there, artificial intelligence does not care about it. It is very dangerous. As Turkey, ASELSAN, ROKETSAN, HAVELSAN and TEI do not allow foreign electric cars into the campus anymore. Because there are too many sensors, cameras, etc. And we don't have the control. We allow the locals, we have the software and the control. But God forbid, you don't know what will happen in the event of a war. If you have control of the software, you can change the password and secure it again, but if someone else has the software and control, they can do whatever they want, unfortunately."
US bans Chinese vehicles completely
Many countries, from the USA to China, are taking precautions regarding advanced electric vehicles. The USA has completely banned Chinese smart and electric vehicles from entering US military bases. The US Department of Commerce also enacted the final decision that completely bans the use of software and hardware originating from China and Russia in vehicles in the USA. Chinese giant BYD is on the Pentagon's restriction list.
Even though Tesla is an American brand, both countries approach Tesla with suspicion due to its factory in China. Years ago, the Chinese government banned Teslas from entering military bases and government buildings on the grounds that the cameras on Tesla vehicles could leak data.
Software must be native
There are a few important steps here:
The first is to make the software native. When the software is made native, you can control what information the vehicle sends and where. But the risk doesn't just end with software. Let's say you used a foreign, imported chip in the vehicle.
There is always the possibility that even that chip could secretly send some data somewhere. When the hardware is national, this threat is greatly reduced. . In such critical areas, a threat perception is made and an action plan is put into action accordingly. "Currently, our national vehicles are much more protected than foreign vehicles according to this threat perception."
Engine type is irrelevant
Stating that this problem has emerged with the widespread use of autonomous vehicles, Turan Oğuz said, “We should not narrow the scope by saying only electric. Autonomous vehicles work just like a radar; It constantly scans the environment through LIDARs on it. The ban and risk apply to vehicles with these sensors. Human-assisted autonomy or fully unmanned autonomous driving features pose the main risk. Vehicles with this autonomous capability cannot enter critical facilities. "Other than that, the engine type is unimportant, whether it is electric or diesel," he said.
making a map
