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Showing posts with label British transport. Show all posts
Cyber Security
AI in robotics AI Techniques Automation Automotive British transport China Cyber Security

Chinese Robotaxis May Launch UK Trials in 2026 as Uber and Lyft Partner With Baidu

 

Chinese autonomous taxis could begin operating on UK roads by 2026 after Uber and Lyft announced plans to partner with Chinese technology company Baidu to trial driverless vehicles in London. Both companies are seeking government approval to test Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis, a move that could mark an important step in the UK’s adoption of self-driving transport. 

Baidu’s Apollo Go service already operates in several cities, mainly in China, where it has completed millions of passenger journeys without a human driver. If approved, the UK trials would represent the first large-scale use of Chinese-developed robotaxis in Europe, placing London among key global hubs working toward autonomous mobility. 

The UK government has welcomed the development. Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said the announcement supports Britain’s plans for self-driving vehicles and confirmed that the government is preparing to allow autonomous cars to carry passengers under a pilot scheme starting in spring. The Department for Transport is developing regulations to enable small autonomous taxi- and bus-style services from 2026, with an emphasis on responsible and safe deployment. 

Uber has said it plans to begin UK driverless car trials as regulations evolve, partnering with Baidu to help position Britain as a leader in future transport while offering Londoners another travel option. Lyft has also expressed interest, stating that London could become the first European city to host Baidu’s Apollo Go vehicles as part of a broader agreement covering the UK and Germany.  

Despite enthusiasm from companies and policymakers, regulatory approval remains a major challenge. Lyft chief executive David Risher said that, if approved, testing could begin in London in 2026 with a small fleet of robotaxis, eventually scaling to hundreds. Experts caution, however, that autonomous transport systems cannot expand as quickly as other digital technologies.  

Jack Stilgoe, professor of science and technology policy at University College London, warned that moving from limited trials to a fully operational transport system is complex. He stressed the importance of addressing safety, governance, and public trust before autonomous taxis can become widely used. 

Public scepticism remains strong. A YouGov poll in October found that nearly 60 percent of UK respondents would not ride in a driverless taxi under any circumstances, while 85 percent would prefer a human-driven cab if price and convenience were the same. Ongoing reports of autonomous vehicle errors, traffic disruptions, and service suspensions have added to concerns. Critics also warn that poorly regulated robotaxis could worsen congestion, undermining London’s efforts to reduce city-centre traffic.
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Ransomware
Account security British transport Data Breach MFA Passwords Ransomware

When Weak Passwords Open The Door: Major Breaches That Began With Simple Logins

 



Cybersecurity incidents are often associated with sophisticated exploits, but many of the most damaging breaches across public institutions, private companies and individual accounts have originated from something far more basic: predictable passwords and neglected account controls. A review of several high-profile cases shows how easily attackers can bypass defences when organisations rely on outdated credentials, skip essential updates or fail to enforce multi-factor authentication.

One example resurfaced when an older assessment revealed that the server used to manage surveillance cameras at a prominent European museum operated with a password identical to the institution’s name. The report, which stresses on configuration weaknesses and poor access safeguards, has drawn renewed attention following recent thefts from the museum’s collection. The outdated credential underlined how critical systems often remain vulnerable because maintenance and password policies fall behind operational needs.

A similar pattern was seen in May 2021 when a major fuel pipeline in the United States halted operations after attackers used a compromised login associated with an inactive remote-access account. The credential was not protected by secondary verification, allowing the intruders to infiltrate the network. The temporary shutdown triggered widespread disruption, and the operator ultimately paid a substantial ransom before systems could be restored. Investigators later recovered part of the payment, but the event demonstrated how a single unsecured account can affect national infrastructure.

In the corporate sector, a British transport company with more than a century of operations collapsed after a ransomware group accessed its internal environment by correctly guessing an employee’s password. Once inside, the attackers encrypted operational data and locked critical systems, demanding a ransom the firm could not pay. With its files unrecoverable, the company ceased trading and hundreds of employees lost their jobs. The case illustrated how small oversights in password hygiene can destabilise even long-established businesses.

Weak or unchanged default codes have also enabled intrusions into personal communications. Years-long investigations into unlawful phone-hacking in the United Kingdom revealed that some voicemail systems were protected by factory-set PINs or extremely simple numerical combinations. These lax protections enabled unauthorized access to private messages belonging to public figures, eventually triggering criminal proceedings, regulatory inquiries and the shutdown of a national newspaper.

Historical oversight is not limited to consumer systems. Former personnel who worked with early nuclear command procedures in the United States have described past practices in which launch mechanisms relied on extremely simple numeric sequences. Although additional procedural safeguards existed, later reforms strengthened the technical requirements to ensure that no single point of failure or simplistic code could enable unauthorized action.

More recently, a national elections authority in the United Kingdom was reprimanded after attackers accessed servers containing voter registration data between 2021 and 2022. Regulators found that essential patches had not been applied and that many internal accounts continued to use passwords similar to those originally assigned at setup. By impersonating legitimate users, intruders were able to penetrate the system, though no evidence indicated that the data was subsequently misused.

These incidents reinforce a consistent conclusion. Passwords remain central to digital security, and organisations that fail to enforce strong credential policies, update software and enable multi-factor authentication expose themselves to avoidable breaches. Even basic improvements in password complexity and account management can prevent the kinds of failures that have repeatedly resulted in financial losses, service outages and large-scale investigations.


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