Podcast Summary: "Move fast and brake things"

Podcast: Click Here (Recorded Future News)
Air Date: November 11, 2025
Host: Dina Temple-Raston

Overview

This episode explores how the digital transformation of the automotive industry has blurred the line between cars and computers. Featuring the harrowing real-life experience of Volvo owner Peter Rothschild, the episode dives deep into the unexpected dangers of over-the-air software updates in vehicles, the process behind automotive software testing, the growing threat of car hacking, and the regulatory gaps in vehicle cybersecurity. The story raises urgent questions about safety, responsibility, and the future of cars as rolling computers.

Story Arc & Main Theme

Theme:
Modern cars are as much software as hardware. As traditional auto manufacturers race to become tech companies—shipping over-the-air (OTA) updates and adding features—they risk importing Silicon Valley's "move fast and break things" mentality into a context where malfunctions can mean life or death, not just inconvenience.

Purpose:
To uncover the risks and oversight issues of digital cars, show how a software bug became a safety hazard, and discuss what manufacturers, regulators, and security researchers are (and aren't) doing about it.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Peter Rothschild’s Close Call: Software Updates Gone Wrong

• Background:
  Peter Rothschild, a lifelong Volvo enthusiast and retired radiologist, shares his chilling experience after a routine software update led to near brake failure in his new Volvo XC90 hybrid.

• Incident Details:

  • Rothschild's car started experiencing entertainment system issues and rear camera failure after updates (01:54, 02:03).

  • After a dealer-installed software update, Rothschild lost braking control while descending a mountain road (03:06–04:04).

  • Actual dashcam footage captured the frightening episode:

    "This Volvo is extremely heavy... I kept trying the brakes and trying the brakes. I was so focused on keeping this car on the road." (03:22, Peter Rothschild)

  • He narrowly avoided disaster by steering the car into dirt and rocks as an improvised runaway truck ramp (06:54).

  • Rothschild was "never so scared" and brought evidence to Volvo and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (07:55).

• Findings:

  • Volvo confirmed a rare software bug (version 3.514) impaired brake response after 90 seconds of coasting in “B mode” (08:17–09:02).
  • The issue affected at least 11,000 vehicles; a quick recall and software patch followed (14:35).
  • Memorable quote highlighting frustration:

    "So basically it was a bug fix to fix a bug fix. That's something you really don't want to hear from a car dealer." (14:35, Peter Rothschild)

2. Modern Cars: Hardware or Software with Wheels?

• Digital Shift:

  • Host Dina Temple-Raston contextualizes:

    "We used to think of cars as metal and rubber... Now they're just as much ones and zeros as they are nuts and bolts." (04:04)

• Software Testing Process:

  • Florian Road (former Tesla software lead) explains modern automotive software deployment: bring-up, verification and validation, and finally acceptance testing (10:38).
  • Safety and entertainment systems are usually kept isolated, like separating hospital guest WiFi from vital medical devices (11:48).
  • However, rare "corner cases" are hard to predict in the real world (12:00).

    "You're looking at millions of lines of code. To find a specific corner case is sometimes not as easy as it sounds." (12:19, Florian Road)

• OTA Updates and Risk Mitigation:

  • OTA (“over-the-air”) repairs are now routine, often rolled out in gradual “waves” for safety (13:15).
  • Failures in deployment can have massive impact (e.g., CrowdStrike’s global outage by a bad update).

3. Cybersecurity: When Breaks Aren’t Broken, They’re Breached

• Vulnerability Landscape:

  • Increasing digital complexity means every new feature is a new potential "doorway" into cars for hackers.

  • Reference to the landmark 2015 Jeep Cherokee hack: researchers remotely killed the engine by simply guessing the car’s weak Wi-Fi password (17:14–17:57).

  • DEFCON, the world’s leading hacking conference, now features a "car hacking village" (18:27).

• White Hat Hacking & Best Practices:

  • Kamel Gali, professional “car hacker,” describes how he finds and reports vulnerabilities before criminals exploit them (16:54–17:14).

  • Automakers now use cryptographic signatures to ensure software authenticity (19:23).

    "You use a private key to actually sign an update... to make sure that, you know, random people aren't able to modify the software." (19:23, Kamel Gali)

4. Regulation and the Road Ahead

• Regulatory Gaps in the U.S.:

  • NHTSA cybersecurity standards are non-binding “guidelines.” Other regions, like Europe and Japan, require robust cybersecurity protocols for automakers (19:41–20:18).

  • Lack of U.S. standards means self-certification dominates.

    "It is completely 100% up to the manufacturers to ensure the cybersecurity of their vehicles. And right now, I would say they're not doing it because security is an added expense..." (20:54, Michael Brooks, Center for Auto Safety)

  • Unlike aviation, there are no federal standards for software testing in auto safety; manufacturers test and certify themselves (21:13).

5. Where Old and New Notions of Safety Collide

• Reckoning with the Reality:

  "Cars today are computers with wheels. They update themselves while you sleep, and sometimes fail while you drive. We spent a century crash-testing metal. Maybe the next safety test should be for code." (22:12, Dina Temple-Raston)

• Peter Rothschild’s Closing Appeal:

  "The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety needs to start evaluating the software of these cars. Software controls the car, and you cannot say this car is safe without evaluating the software." (21:58, Peter Rothschild)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Peter Rothschild’s horror:

  "I was like a beta tester. I tested their software for them." (09:02, Peter Rothschild)

• On OTA updates:

  "When your product weighs 5,000 pounds... that strategy can have real consequences." (05:38, Dina Temple-Raston)

• The cybersecurity reality check:

  "There is a lot of damage that can be done through reverse engineering the software in these vehicles, finding vulnerabilities, and then... developing exploits." (16:44, Kamel Gali)

• Regulation lag:

  "In America, not yet, but we might get there someday." (20:18, Kamel Gali, comparing U.S. to EU & Japan in car cybersecurity law)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening and Peter’s Background: 00:02 – 01:38
• The Incident on the Mountain Road: 02:11 – 04:04
• Software Bug Confirmed by Volvo: 08:17 – 09:02
• Inside Modern Auto Software Updates: 10:16 – 12:32
• OTA Update Rollout Practices: 13:15 – 14:35
• Car Hacking Example and DEFCON: 17:14 – 18:51
• Current Regulatory Landscape: 19:41 – 21:13
• Closing Argument for Software Testing: 21:58 – 22:12

Additional Topics Briefly Touched (Tech News Roundup)

(24:00+)

• Meta’s revenue from advertising scams
• Journalists buying EU officials’ location data despite GDPR
• Chinese state-backed hack suspected at U.S. Congressional Budget Office
• Coca-Cola’s negative reception to AI-generated holiday ad

Tone and Style

• Insightful, urgent, and accessible:
  The episode distills complex technical and regulatory issues in plain language, using personal storytelling for emotional impact.

• Balanced expert commentary:
  Direct testimony from industry insiders, white-hat hackers, and safety advocates, interwoven with the host's narrative.

Conclusion

"Move fast and brake things" pulls back the curtain on the unseen risks behind the growing digitization of cars. Through Peter Rothschild's near miss and expert insights, it exposes an industry in transition—where cutting-edge features and remote updates bring both innovation and new, grave dangers. The episode closes with a call to reevaluate how safety is measured in our rolling computers, warning that the next frontier of auto safety is as much code as steel.