As cars evolve into rolling mobile computers, the potential for disastrous cyber attacks has become a new road hazard. Israeli cybersecurity firm GuardKnox demonstrated the threat in a Formula 1 driving simulation at the Consumer Electronics show this week in Las Vegas. Moments into the virtual drive, a GuardKnox engineer playing the role of hacker struck and the steering wheel no longer controlled the speeding car.

The faux race was over for the driver, stuck on the side of the road in a scenario that cybersecurity specialists say could become very real. New car models are packed with computer chips, sensors and mobile technology that hackers could exploit to sabotage systems or commandeer controls.

Opportunities for attacks are being revved up by the trend of self-driving, electric cars communicating in real-time with the cloud, smart city infrastructures, and one another.

GuardKnox chief executive Moshe Shlisel gave an example of a hacker remotely taking control of a fuel tanker truck, sending it to crash into a building. "It's September 11 on wheels," Shlisel said in an interview at CES. Cybersecurity has become as integral to vehicle engineering as crash safety and fuel efficiency, according to Henry Bzeih, a former member of the Council for Automobile Cybersecurity, who spoke at the Las Vegas event.