Car Thieves Could Be Stopped Remotely
Speeding off in a stolen car．the thief thinks he has got a great catch．But he is in a nasty surprise．The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer(使车辆不能调动的装置)，and a radio signal from a control center miles away will en—sure that onee the thief switches the engine____(1)，he will not be able to start it again．
For now，such devices____(2)only available for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites．But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars．and____(3)be avail—able to ordinary cars in the UK____(4)two months．
The idea goes like this．A control box fitted to the ear incorporates____(5)miniature cellphone，a micropro—cessor and．memory,and a GPS satellite positioning receiver.____(6)the car is stolen，a coded cellphone signal
will tell the unit to block the vehicle，s engine management system and prevent the engine____(7)restarted．
There are even Dlans for immobilizers____(8)shut down vehicles on the move，though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system．
In the UK。an array of technical fixes is already makin9____(9)harder for car thieves．“The pattern of vehi—cles crime has ehanged，”says Martyn Randall of Thatcham．a security research organization based in Berkshire that is funded in part____(10)the motor insurance industry．
He says it would only take him a few minutes to____(11)a novice how to steal a car，using a bare minimum of tools。But only if the cal一is more than lo years old．
Modem cars are a far tougher proposation，as their engine management，computer will not____(12)them to start unless thev receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key． In the UK，technologies like this____(13)a—chieve a 3 1 per cent drop in vehicle—related crime since l997．
But deteIrained criminals ore still managing to find other ways to steal cars．Often by getting hold of the owner’s keys in a burglary．In 2000，12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken using the owner“keys double the pro—vions year’s figure．
Remote—controlled immobilizatioll system would (14)a major new obstacle in the criminal’s way by making such thehs pointless．A group that includes Thatcham，the police，insurance companies and security technology firms have dove!oped standards for a systern that could go on the market sooner than the____(15)expects．
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