A team of US researchers have developed a software used to hack and control moving cars. The details of the research will be released at this year’s Defcon conference in Las Vegas. They were able to use their software to control the steering, breaks, and headlights of a moving vehicle. Could this be the technology used behind Michael Hastings’ horrible death?

The purpose of the research was to expose security risks and increase the safety features of future cars. But that doesn’t change the fact that they managed to hack and control the modern cars of today!

This information is extra sketchy after the strange death of journalist Michael Hastings in Los Angeles earlier this year. If you don’t know the Michael Hastings story, he was a journalist known for investigating government interaction in the Iraqi war, as well as other sensitive subjects. Hours before his 2013 Mercedes crashed into a tree, he sent out an email to close friends and relatives titled “FBI Investigation re: NSA”. Hastings’ email said he was going to go off the radar for a bit, as he was researching a story about a privacy lawsuit brought by Florida socialite Jill Kelley against the Department of Defence and the FBI.

The car was going so fast, the engine was found more than 30 meters away from the crash. There was no sign Hastings tried to stop the vehicle, and the dozen or so computers on board melted as a result of the fiery explosion, making it virtually impossible to analyze for electronic faults. U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism Richard Clarke said that what is known about the accident is consistent with a cyber attack, which has attracted attention from both skepticals and conspiracy theorists.

The fact that hackers have the ability and the tools needed to control moving vehicles is real. Whether this technology was used to silence Michael Hastings is a different issue. Do you believe the Michael Hastings death was a government conspiracy or a freak accident? And how do you feel about hackers having the ability to control modern cars through their computers? Let us know in the comments below.