The next-generation mid-engine Corvette might have an encrypted ECU so advanced that it will keep both thieves and tuners away.
Basically every modern car has a computer at its core, and the C8 Corvette will be no exception. In fact, the C8 will use GM’s latest generation of wiring architecture called Global B that is designed to handle both conventional and electric vehicles.
It also comes with a pretty hefty ECU that uses advanced encryption to prevent any kind of tampering. Any attempt to read, write or replace code could lead to the car becoming a giant paperweight.
According to a recent article from Muscle Cars And Trucks, if someone were to fiddle with the ECU found in Global B it will put the car into “recovery mode,” which basically shuts the whole thing off until the ECU can be properly re-imaged. If you don’t have GM’s proprietary code, then the ECU remains off and the car never moves again.
Muscle Cars And Trucks got even more details on the C8’s fancy new unhackable brain at the CT4-V/CT5-V reveal last week in Detroit. Speaking to GM President Mark Reuss, they found out that General Motors is very serious when it comes to protecting their new vehicles.
“We are going to do everything we can to protect our customers from a cybersecurity standpoint,” said Reuss. “Global B I think is going to be the standard of the industry in terms of the encrypted messaging that travels on our bus between modules. There’s a clean side and dirty side to that.”
The clean side is that this will make hacking a new GM vehicle extremely difficult (unlike certain Tesla hacks we’ve seen in the past). The dirty side is that enthusiasts will have an even more difficult time making any customizations or upgrades to a GM product. This could single-handedly prevent smaller carmakers like Hennessey from taking the new C8 and turning it into one of their ludicrously powerful creations.
But no computer is unhackable. Eventually, someone will figure out a way around this ECU. It just might take a few years for them to do it.