Tesla has rolled out a software update for its model S car to address the vulnerabilities identified by two researchers.
The researchers, Marc Rogers of Cloudflare and Kevin Mahaffey from Lookout, discovered that the vulnerabilities could be exploited, with hackers handed the ability top shut off the car and make it suddenly stop.
Rogers and Mahaffey accessed various systems in the car after physically connecting a computer to it through an ethernet cable. A Trojan Horse was used for remote-access.
It was discovered that the car would turn off if the speed is below 5 MPH. However, if the driver turns off while traveling faster than 5 MPH, it would switch to neutral.
Tesla has been working with the researchers for several weeks on software fixes.
Tesla was quoted by the BBC as saying: "Our well-developed safeguards protect every layer of our vehicle and network security system, including for the mobile app, Tesla’s servers, and the car itself.
"Through our responsible reporting process, a dedicated team of top-notch Tesla security professionals works closely with the researcher community to ensure that we continue to protect our systems against vulnerabilities by constantly stress-testing, validating, and updating our safeguards."
Last month, FCA US recalled about 1.4 million vehicles in order to avoid hacking by updating software for several radios, after researchers exposed flaws in the software system.
Land Rover is also recalling over 65,000 vehicles to fix a software bug that causes the vehicle’s doors to unlock on their own.