Police to get e-bike killer?

[Cudzoziemiec]

UK police officers could be equipped with devices that can shut down the motors of e-bikes and e-scooters, where the rider is suspected of being involved in a crime, by firing an electromagnetic pulse at the vehicle that would trick the motor into thinking it’s overheating.

National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) chair Gavin Stephens said the device, which would require line of sight to work, was in development and could be months away from being available.

The device would be housed in a backpack, and has therefore drawn several comparisons to the proton packs used in the Ghostbusters films.

Stephens told a media briefing: “Basically, it interferes with the electric motor, to trick the electric motor into thinking it is overheating. It sends a signal to confuse the electric motor. All these electric motors apparently have an in-built safety system that if it thinks it’s overheating, it shuts down. At the minute, it’s like a ginormous backpack.”

Continues... https://ebiketips.road.cc/content/news/uk-police-could-get-remote-shutdown-weapon-to-stop-e-bikes-and-e-scooters-5349

With opportunity for wider application?

This latest equipment was demonstrated to police earlier this year at the Farnborough technology show. “They were also telling me it has the potential to be useful with normal combustion engine vehicles,” Stephens said.

Will they be able to focus it on an individual bike or scooter, particularly if it's moving quite fast, or will be it an area application? When they say all electric motors have overheating sensors, does this really mean all, including those assembled at home from parts off Amazon or Ebay, gaffer-taped together? Once it's developed and tested, can it then be used on the street or does it need to get some sort of authorization from the Home Secretary or similar? Does it really only need a few more months development? Is this just another clickbait? Will it really be used on speeding cars?

[JonBuoy]

Another report on this device: https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/14/ghostbuster_ebike_weapon/

Because you don't want to accidentally brick a Tesla...

Now there's a thought 

[Wycombewheeler]

illegal e-bikes on the way out.

two stroke conversion kits to make a comeback
https://www.amazon.co.uk/OUNUO-Bicycle-Motorized-Black-upgraded-version/dp/B0937673K1/ref=sr_1_5?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.u7b_ONDb1JPCbX7cRj37vvUtgT7OmZhNUrByeK6fd6MjZrCrhA4zJY8xMZC1_eXxQEamld02S3eJEIa-wGa0P4jUPfmsZ2rZNVCd-D0oGaNjEBPB_2EtmTu2d0x97HS2yPSSsvNlKPdPgaJMHioGtmSH3h022CExxW4f0jGfPzQ7FXmniWM9V5WLNye8XPgtVQZaZE39r0bd5AE25XyyjmuaC8flIgl73U4_nVNKIXEiH3Dc9LSMwt-Cgwp6MfqWFsJ3qzKkIYwXRGDUF84OErp6GZAADhgyprIDmdFOH3s._PtCNseDeGsEAJPSCPr6tUGG17QJpCjKGjXYWCfTuFc&dib_tag=se&keywords=Bike+Engine+Kit&qid=1716221920&sr=8-5

[Flâneur]

Because you don't want to accidentally brick a Tesla...

Or a Di2...

[cygnet]

All these electric motors apparently have an in-built safety system that if it thinks it’s overheating, it shuts down

Because nothing will stop people who make and sell bikes that are illegal to use in the UK from not including this soft/firmware.

Cue more house and flat fires.

[Diver300]

For the most part, it won't work. Ebike motors don't have devices intended to be radio receivers in them, so it's only circuits that are accidental receivers that will be sensitive.

Because it's accidental, it's only when there is bad design and very powerful signals that there will be circuits that are susceptible to radio transmissions.

There may be some models of ebike motor controllers with a particular vulnerability, but it won't work on all motor controllers, and the manufacturer would probably fix it if they knew about it to stop mobile phones from stopping their products from working.

[cygnet]

So - the police are cat-wanging for the government.

 

[Kim]

If you want to make money selling snake-oil but find audiophiles too tedious, then a customer base of government-funded petty authoritarians with laughable understanding of basic SCIENCE and a steadfast refusal to ever back down is pretty much ideal.  Which is why we have a long history of  a) police  b) schools and  c) defence contractors  paying through the nose for technical solutions that are clearly bollocks.

This is all well and good until someone's life is endangered because they think that dowsing-rod bomb detector will actually detect bombs, or whatever.  Fortunately, I don't see much risk of PC Plod getting splatted utterly to DETH after failing to ghostbust an oncoming e-scooter.

[Diver300]

If you want to make money selling snake-oil but find audiophiles too tedious, then a customer base of government-funded petty authoritarians with laughable understanding of basic SCIENCE and a steadfast refusal to ever back down is pretty much ideal.  Which is why we have a long history of  a) police  b) schools and  c) defence contractors  paying through the nose for technical solutions that are clearly bollocks.

This is all well and good until someone's life is endangered because they think that dowsing-rod bomb detector will actually detect bombs, or whatever.  Fortunately, I don't see much risk of PC Plod getting splatted utterly to DETH after failing to ghostbust an oncoming e-scooter.

Kim has, as usual, the perfect answer.

[perpetual dan]

It is clearly bollocks, but if you're going to EMP speeding bikes, then why not cars too? 20 people died in police pursuits in 2022/23, and many more from speeding non-police. They could even swap them out for speed cameras. Time to bring weapons to the war on the motorist?

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

[jwo]

If you want to make money selling snake-oil but find audiophiles too tedious, then a customer base of government-funded petty authoritarians with laughable understanding of basic SCIENCE and a steadfast refusal to ever back down is pretty much ideal.  Which is why we have a long history of  a) police  b) schools and  c) defence contractors  paying through the nose for technical solutions that are clearly bollocks.

This is all well and good until someone's life is endangered because they think that dowsing-rod bomb detector will actually detect bombs, or whatever.  Fortunately, I don't see much risk of PC Plod getting splatted utterly to DETH after failing to ghostbust an oncoming e-scooter.

Is 'post of the day' still a thing? If so, Kim deserves it for this.

[Cudzoziemiec]

So - the police are cat-wanging for the government.

 

Or cat wrangling?

Anyways, I think Kim is being slightly over cynical (or is it under cynical?) in this case; there is at least circumstantial evidence that the police themselves do not believe it will work. The police chief uses hedge words like "Apparently", "they were telling me", and of course, "At the minute, it’s like a ginormous backpack."

[T42]

I like the idea of bricking Teslas, though.

[Diver300]

I like the idea of bricking Teslas, though.

Why just Teslas? All modern cars rely on electronics to operate the motor / fuel injection / ignition, so if you can upset the electronics for an eBike*, you can probably take out any car built in the last 30 years.

* You can't. See posts passim on this thread

[PhilO]

I'd be interested to know what the claimed effect on any pacemakers within a 100m radius is, though... 

[Beardy]

In the war on cyclists and other troublesome oiks, collateral damage in the form of a few elderly pacemaker users is quite acceptable.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Surely any EMP strong enough to brick this chip is also going to brick:
Pacemakers
Mobile phones
routers
Any modern car
Cash registers
ATMs
Computers

Effing dumb idea.

[rogerzilla]

AIUI EMP induced voltages depend on the physical size of circuits, so EMPs are less damaging to modern chips.

[Diver300]

AIUI EMP induced voltages depend on the physical size of circuits, so EMPs are less damaging to modern chips.

It’s usually the wires working as aerials that pick up the pulses and conduct them to the chips. Most circuits contain components to reduce the effects of interference, but the effectiveness of those varies enormously. 

[barakta]

Surely any EMP strong enough to brick this chip is also going to brick:
Pacemakers
Mobile phones
routers
Any modern car
Cash registers
ATMs
Computers

Effing dumb idea.

Hearing aids and cochlea implant processors... And I would litigate if that was done to mine.

[Polar Bear]

I can imagine the chaos as vehicles grind to a halt, traffic lights fail, medical devices fail, communications fail and yet the pensioners toerags zoom off on their classic bicycles with no electronics whatsoever to evade the babylon why have just disabled their own pursuit vehicles ...  🤣

[Kim]

I look forward to it being stolen and used against the oppressive tools of the police state vital security infrastructure...