|
{{B}}Car Thieves Could Be Stopped Remotely{{/B}} Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in a nasty surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer, and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine {{U}}(51) {{/U}}, he will not be able to start it again. For now, such devices {{U}}(52) {{/U}}only available for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites. But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars, and {{U}}(53) {{/U}} be available to ordinary cars in the UK {{U}}(54) {{/U}}two months. The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car incorporates {{U}}(55) {{/U}} miniature cellphone, a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS satellite positioning receiver. {{U}}(56) {{/U}}the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle's engine management system and prevent the engine {{U}}(57) {{/U}}restarted. There are even plans for immobilizers {{U}}(58) {{/U}}shut down vehicles on the move, though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system. In the UK, an array of technical fixes is already making {{U}}(59) {{/U}}harder for car thieves. "The pattern of vehicles crime has changed," says Martyn Randall of Thatcham, a security research organization based in Berkshire that is funded in part {{U}}(60) {{/U}}the motor insurance industry. He says it would only take him a few minutes to {{U}}(61) {{/U}}a novice how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than 10 years old. Modern cars are a far tougher proposition, as their engine management computer will not {{U}}(62) {{/U}} them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key. In the UK, technologies like this {{U}}(63) {{/U}} achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997. But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars. Often by getting hold of the owner's keys in a burglary. In 2000, 12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken by using the owner's keys, which doubles the previous year's figure. Remote-controlled immobilization system would{{U}} (64) {{/U}}a major new obstacle in the criminal's way by making such thefts pointless. A group that includes Thatcham, the police, insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could go on the market sooner than the {{U}}(65) {{/U}}expects. |