A Sydney woman discovered the hard way that technology you rely on can be turned against you. Per The Guardian, about a year ago, Stacey (name changed for her privacy) woke up in the middle of the night when her car alarm went off three different times. She did not respond to it because she was “too scared” it was her former partner, Enrico Pucci, at whose hands she has suffered four years of domestic abuse. However, at first glance, the next morning, her Tesla seemed fine.
When she got in, however, Stacey realised that the electronic dashboard had been reset and now a “parental control” profile had been added to the car’s system. What happened after this made this case a landmark example of how connected vehicle features can be weaponized in abusive relationships. As Stacey soon learned, this profile gave Pucci total remote control over her vehicle. He could manipulate the climate controls, set speed caps, and even lock her out.
