Designing “smart” factories of the future, indestructible tablets and securing your car from hackers.
Factory or Fiction?
Customers today demand high levels of customization, and manufacturers seem to be caught between providing options and mass producing with efficiency.
But creative teams at Audi think that a “smart factory,” designed with flexibility in mind, might be the key.
Drones and robots will surely appear in this Jetson’s-inspired factory of the future, while human employees will likely be sporting the latest must-have, weird wearable.
Tough Tablets
This week Dell introduced the latest addition to its line of heavy-duty tech: the Latitude 12 rugged tablet. Ideal for industrial workers, the device can apparently withstand extreme temperatures, water spills, sand, dust and drops from over four feet. No word yet on whether it can survive a trip onboard a SpaceX rocket.
Take The Wheel
A reporter from Wired recently detailed how hackers were able to remotely disable a Jeep while he was driving it. The number of ways vehicles can be hacked is growing quickly as automakers roll out new vehicles with more screens and navigation, entertainment and communications systems to keep up with consumer demand.
Due to examples like the Jeep hack, this week two senators introduced the Security and Privacy in Your Car Act or SPY Act which would require auto manufacturers to build IT security standards into connected cars. Among the bill’s requirements includes connected vehicles to have technology that could “detect, report and stop hacking attempts in real-time.”
So, What Do You Think?
As vehicles get loaded with more technology, and might soon be driving us around, vehicle hacking could become our next headache. When it comes to software security, and ultimately safety, should it be on the automakers to ensure their products are safe to cyberattacks?
Email us or leave your comments below.
