Computer experts have figured out a way to hack a Jeep, allowing them to remotely control everything from music and windshield wipers to speed and brakes. This has led to a proposal for federal cyber-security legislation, while other people question what this means for self-driving cars.

The question of the cyber-security of automobiles is almost completely separate from self-driving cars. The self-driven cars developed by Google, Volkswagen, and other manufacturers rely on several kinds of sensors to direct their travel, including GPS, lasers, radar, infrared, and optical sensors. Of these, the only one that uses the radio spectrum is GPS, and since the cars use it only to determine a route, and not for minute-by-minute driving, I don’t think it could be vulnerable to a cyber attack.

Experts believe that hackers used Chrysler’s use of Sprint communications technologies in its cars aimed at providing auto buyers with an “in-vehicle communications system.” If so, then Sprint failed to build an adequate firewall between its communications and the car’s operating controls. Chrysler responded to the hack by recalling 1.4 million vehicles that have the Sprint system, presumably so it can somehow add such a firewall. According to Wired, the hackers that demonstrated the Sprint system’s vulnerability report that

Sprint has already fixed the problem by adding security to its telecommunications.

Sprint’s response and Chrysler’s rapid recall makes it clear that federal legislation regarding the cyber-security of motor vehicles is unnecessary, as auto makers have an incentive to do their best to protect potential car buyers from hackers. On the other hand, Congress should make cars safer by forbidding the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from mandating that vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems be included in new cars. Such vehicle-to-vehicle (and vehicle-to-infrastructure) systems would be much easier to hack than most self-driving car technologies.