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Mentioned previously on SN, Amazon has started direct-to-car deliveries:
Amazon is expanding its in-home delivery service called Key to include deliveries to trunks and back seats of cars. The service is available only to Amazon Prime members in 37 cities who have a 2015 or newer Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac or Volvo with an active OnStar or Volvo On Call account.
Essentially, these are already connected cars that can be remotely unlocked — in this case for package delivery, which Amazon promises within a four-hour window. The shopper has to confirm that they've parked within range of the delivery location — in a publicly accessible area — and can track the progress through the Amazon Key app.
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Amazon Wants to Deliver Packages Inside Your Car
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Hacking's just another word for nothing left to kludge.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday April 26 2018, @10:59PM (1 child)
Delivery guy makes the delivery, and "accidentally" leaves the door slightly ajar so it won't lock properly. By the time OnStar notices (if they do notice) and alerts you, delivery guy's partner has already stolen the car and delivery guy swears he has no idea who that other person was.
Or delivery guy's partner (or stalker, works either way) sits on the stoop in front of your car, waits for the delivery guy to come, and once the door is open they threaten delivery guy with a knife and take the car. Or wait until delivery guy is walking away, then runs up and grabs the car before it gets locked again -- after all, even if OnStar is tracking the delivery guy's every action by GPS, they still aren't going to get the car locked the instant he closes the door, because GPS just isn't accurate enough, and the call center employees are likely to give him a little leeway on top of that.
It's less about some megacorp having access to unlock your car, and more about some random delivery guy being able to perfectly predict what car is going to be unlocked and when...and possibly sell that information to associates. And it's not their car, so why do they care if anything gets damaged or stolen? Are they going to hesitate to unlock the door if there's some sketchy looking characters sitting nearby? Are they going to make sure they aren't denting your car door on the lamp post you parked beside?
I suspect that might be part of the reason they require OnStar -- it tracks your car if it gets stolen, and it has sensors which trigger on impact which might be able to alert them if any of the delivery guys get a bit too rough. Probably it can also read the sensors to check if the doors are ajar or the weight sensors to see if anything is on the seat, etc. Of course by that point any damage is already done, but at least they've got some talking points for the press conference about how the thieves will be tracked down and punished...
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Friday April 27 2018, @03:47AM
For a car thief, getting into a locked car is not really the challenging part of stealing a car. The real challenge, especially on a newer car (as required for this service), is to get the thing started. And I supposed dealing with OnStar's tracking of the vehicle after stealing it. If they really want the car, most likely they'll either bring a tow truck and tow the car away, disconnecting the battery to kill OnStar. Or if they have some inside connections they'll get a key made (like you could at the dealer) in which case they can just walk up, unlock it, start it and drive off as if it was their car.
I'd be more worried about the delivery guy stealing the change in the cupholder myself.