Projects under way to remotely shut down vehicles using radio waves

New Scientist : A pair of projects under way in Europe aim to develop systems that will use radio waves to remotely shut down vehicles. The Safe Control of Noncooperative Vehicles Through Electromagnetic Means (SAVELEC) project has received €4.3 million ($5.9 million) from the European Commission; E2V, a British electronics company, has been working for the UK police and military forces. Both projects hope to use microwaves to target microchips called engine control units (ECUs). The SAVELEC project is still in the research stage, but E2V has already begun testing its prototype. The E2V system overloads the ECU by constantly forcing it to reset itself. SAVELEC has not released details of the intended operation of its system. The goal for both projects is to force the engine to shut down without permanently destroying the electrical systems; some militaries currently use electromagnetic pulse weapons to decimate electrical systems. The two projects are working to ensure that only the ECU, and not the steering or brakes, is affected by the microwave pulses.