DUBAI // Motorists can download a Knight Rider-style application that allows them to start their car’s engine and air conditioning, and unlock its doors with their smartphones.
The Viper SmartStart application was unveiled yesterday at the car show. It works by connecting the car wirelessly to an app on the phone.
“It’s just like Knight Rider,” said promoter Shakiba Ansari. “You will have anytime access to your car from anywhere in the world. As long as you have an internet connection, you will have complete control.
“If you want to go out, you can just switch on the car’s air conditioning to cool it down 10 minutes before you leave the house. If you lock your key inside your car, you can just use the app to open your door.”
Ms Ansari said you could start the engine but the vehicle would not move until you put the key in the ignition.
However, David Michaux, director of the Dubai security company Whispering Bell, said people should be cautious when using remote services over the internet.
“It has a lot of ingenious and useful features,” Mr Michaux said. “It’s just that, with some of the features you would have thought better security would have been embedded into it when you put such functionality around it.”
When Viper SmartStart was launched two years ago bloggers posted tutorials online showing how to hack the system using a laptop.
One video showed a hacker turning on a car’s engine just by pasting a line of code into the URL bar of a web browser.
“If you have access to this it looks like you can potentially steal the car,” said Mr Michaux.
But he said that loophole could have been fixed in the two years since the video was made.
Car thieves are increasingly turning to high technology to steal luxury vehicles.
Last year there was a spate of robberies in Europe where criminals gained access to the onboard diagnostics of some BMWs through a USB plug behind the tail light, and stole the vehicles.
Mr Michaux said car makers were becoming more rigorous in their efforts to counter hackers, but care needed to be taken when modifying a car, especially with wireless connections.
“When it comes to making after-market modifications you can’t depend so much on the security because they might not have gone through the same vigorous testing as the car manufacturer would have put them through,” he said.
mcroucher@thenational.ae
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: seven-speed dual clutch automatic
Power: 169bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh54,500
On sale: now
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets