Smart cars being weaponised in domestic violence cases, warns eSafety Commission

Abusers are increasingly turning to smart cars to perpetrate violence and control over their victims by, Australia’s online safety boss has warned.

Frontline service providers say there has been an increase in reports of coercive control through smart cars linked to apps and cloud accounts that can start the engine, send an alert and monitor the vehicle’s location.

The eSafety Commission has received 400 calls for help and 20,000 requests for information on smart car abuse in the past year, prompting a new online safety advisory to warn potential victims of new threats.

The commission also called on manufacturers to embed more safety features in their systems as 90 per cent of all cars sold in Australia will have telematics systems by 2031.

“They’re essentially computers on wheels, and we don’t want them to become weapons on wheels,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

“They already have GPS, you can remotely control or lock or start the car. You can prevent an EV from being charged.

“These are all things we’re hearing that are happening to Australian women.”

Domestic Violence Crisis Support chief executive Sue Webeck said this type of abuse is “insidious” and dramatically alters a person’s experience of safety, putting them at risk even if they relocate.

“We are chronically being sold products that are supposed to enable us to take control of our lives,” she said.

“What is also being marketed is a tool that can be used by people using violence against their former partners to take a position of power and control over.”

There should be an onus on car manufacturers to detect abuse, Ms Inman Grant said, adding she was meeting with Toyota this week.

“We’ve seen that General Motors and Rivian in the US have allowed some people to go into ghost mode so that their location cannot be tracked,” she said.

Ms Inman Grant said abusers are also weaponising cat feeders with video cameras on them that can track who is in the home, and smart fridges being locked remotely so food cannot be accessed.

She said the coroner’s findings into the death of Lilie James, who was murdered by Paul Thijssen in Sydney, revealed how he used Uber Eats to send chocolate gelato to a previous love interest to track whether she was home.

Even a fire emoji can appear as a threat, Ms Inman Grant said, showing how covert technology-facilitated abuse can be.

“If a woman goes to the police and says ‘I’m getting these menacing texts’ and the constable sees a flame emoji, that means hotness,” Ms Inman Grant said.

“But it means something very different when a former partner has threatened to burn down the family home, that is a threat.”