Dive Brief:

• A subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives proposed draft legislation requiring civil penalties of up to $100,000 for the hacking of vehicles, CSO reported.
• Lawmakers also proposed the development of an Automotive Cybersecurity Advisory Council to develop cybersecurity best-practices for car manufacturers.
• The proposed legislation comes in the wake of the increasing automation of cars and the high-profile hack of a Jeep Cherokee in July.

Dive Insight:

The proposed legislation would make motor-vehicle data hacking illegal and impose a civil penalty for each violation if a person accesses "without authorization, an electronic control unit or critical system of a motor vehicle, or other system containing driving data for such motor vehicle, either wirelessly or through a wired connection." 

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade released the draft proposal, which also requires vehicle manufacturers to develop a privacy policy and to publish their practices regarding collection, use, and sharing of the data they collect.  Vehicle makers that don't follow their own stated rules could face penalities of up to $5,000 per day.

In July, two security experts gained access to a Jeep Cherokee and took control remotely of some vital functions of the vehicle, raising concerns about the safety of vehicles with a high degree of automation.

Also in July, Sens. Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal introduced the Security and Privacy in Your Car Act.