IN THE early hours of the morning two men are robbed at gunpoint and ordered out of their Chevrolet Tahoe. The thief jumps in and roars off, but he does not get far. The vehicle is fitted with a telemetry system that provides a data link to a control centre. Soon after being reported stolen, the Tahoe is located by an operator who interrogates its satellite-navigation device. A signal is then sent to the engine-management system to prevent it restarting once stopped. Finally, once a police car has the Tahoe in view and the road ahead is clear, a second signal slows the engine down. The vehicle stops and the thief tries to run for it, but he is apprehended. The robbery took place in California last month. It was the first time the ‘slowdown feature had been activated by General Motors’ OnStar service to respond to a carjacking since it became available a year ago. However, 38 other cars have been slowed down remotely after other types of incident, such as the car having been stolen from a dealership, or to prevent a high-speed chase. OnStar itself was introduced in 1996 as a quick way to summon roadside […]