Eleven million vehicles in total could have the software you have installed on different Volkswagen models’ pass with note “pollution tests carried out by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The software detected when the car was subjected to a test lab and reduced emissions up to 40 times. How they getting this? In fact, experts admit, it is not so complex.
The current vehicles at any time driving up to 2,000 signals have sensors that assess the driving conditions.
Total may be more than 100 sensors could be reduced to three main types. The temperature: measuring the weather outside, the heat from the engine, oil, fuel, etc. Pressure sensors: evaluating the wheels and the oil, and of “on / off” that record if the doors are open or closed, if the belts are fastened and activate the road way or “off road”. All this information is processed by the central computer considering parameters driving, speed, environment, fuel, etc., by a computer program. And this is the one that can be altered to vary the conditions.
Adding to this software algorithm (a set of instructions) is sufficient to overcome any laboratory test. As is the case with search engines on the web, which use algorithms to determine -based on the words we write, our search history, language and other variables which gives us the results, the software he used Volkswagen also it determined when the vehicle was subjected to a test and activated or canceled certain systems.
The deception thank Professor at the University of West Virginia Arvind Thiruvengadam, he made different assessments on the road of European vehicles found sold in the United States, as the Passat, Jetta (both Volkswagen) or BMW X5.
Alarms jumped when the results of the Passat, which should have lower emissions, given a number 20 times higher than usual. Because the cars were tested on road conditions were not the same as in laboratory
In the latter setting, the parameters are very accurate. The ignition timing of the engine, the cancellation system traction, tire pressure when entering a treadmill or activation of certain devices in a specific order (lights, doors, belts, etc) this is indicative of a laboratory test.
these conditions were met, the software, with new algorithms, activated the right to put the engine in “cleanly” and once the assessment back to the conventional system instructions. According to the EPA report, “the steering wheel position, speed and barometric pressure, very specific indicators, acting as switches to turn this deceptive system.”
Who authorized their use? For complex enough, in the world of programming code written in software are like fingerprints of the authors, each have a “watermark” that relates to its author. Nikhil Kaul, an expert in software development and testing for SmartBear Software, notes that “the software must be evaluated at least once and must be records of this. And even if they are deleted, you can determine the authorship compared with the work of other programmers. “
As with many computer tricks, the problem is not the use of this technology, but the abuse. Therefore, they have stuck to Volkswagen. In this case, the software is activated when subjected to laboratory tests, but what if the tables were turned? That is, if you just take a given contaminated when driving or when customs detected usual driver usage time. Maybe that software is already in place and has not yet been detected.

