It's not just the fridge that will be connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). One of the biggest (and most satisfying) challenges is connecting the car.
The social rewards and technological challenges of this effort will be enormous.
The ideal would be connecting cars to transportation hubs, locally and by satellite, that could route traffic, inform of hazards, prevent accidents, and maybe even traffic jams. According to Texas A&M Transportation Institute, U.S. commuters waste 38 hours per year stuck in traffic. That's double in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. According to a report for the American Automobile Association (AAA), fuel and man-hours in traffic jams wasted $98 billion in 2011.
The enormous social advantages carry a big cost, however.
Among the risks:
, Theft of personal information. Currently, about 100 car sensors generate 25 GB of data per hour. By 2020, there will be about 200 sensors in connected cars, that could generate 300 TB of data per year for just American driving. These sensors monitor all sorts of personal data, including personal travel routes, location, financial information and even just entertainment preferences, according to Intertrust.
, Secure connections. From system flaws to hacking, security will be challenged.
, Vehicle manipulation. Whether a driver is present or not, catastrophic traffic incidents are possible if terrorists gain control of one car or many.
, Unauthorized entry. Car thieves may become much more sophisticated once completely wireless ignition and entry systems are in place. Criminals may be able to steal entry data from wireless key fobs.
, Mobile applications. Security researchers have already proved this to be a problem with a connected application from on car maker. Researchers were able to break security and connect to the car by internet. They remotely controlled the car's heat, heated seats, steering wheel and air conditioning. Most current mobile operating systems would require major security renovations.