ISIS planning on stepping up tech attacks, warns Nato chief
Reuters
Driverless cars seem to be all the rage in the tech world today. But is not only Google that is interested in developing autonomous cars. The Islamic State (Isis) is believed to be working on honing their tech skills to build driverless cars, which it intends to weaponise to launch a series of bomb attacks in the West.
According to Nato deputy assistant secretary general for emerging security threats, Dr Jamie Shae, the IS (Daesh) R&D department in Raqqa, Syria – which houses the bomb manufacturing factory of the militant group – is being used to develop the autonomous car technology, the Express reported.
"We are focusing very much on Raqqa at the moment, where ISIL [IS] has its bomb making factory. It is not just Google that is producing the autonomous car, ISIS is also trying to do the same," said Dr Shea, at the Security and Counter Terror Expo 2016 held in London, recently.
As Britain is keen on introducing driverless cars on roads in the future, the technology could pose a serious security threat, as it completely eliminate the need for suicide bombers. IS is reportedly considering weaponising driverless cars by packing them with explosives and remotely placing them at specific locations before detonation.
UK is expected to begin trials for driverless cars on roads as early as 2017. Google parent company Alphabet's chairman Eric Schmidt said in March that the tech giant would trial its autonomous cars in the UK once a decision is made on which cities would be most suitable for the tests.
Security experts have cautioned that the autonomous car technology could very well be the next battleground for high-tech terror attacks. Although details involving IS's plans to execute attacks are still unclear, Dr Shea's warned that the extremist group may misuse emerging technology to cause destruction.