New University of Michigan research: Protecting connected self-driving cars from hackers

Emerging networks of self-driving cars that collaborate and communicate with each other or with infrastructure to make decisions are vulnerable to data forgery attacks, according to a study led by the University of Michigan, which was published on the arXiv preprint server.

Image credit: University of Michigan

Although this collaborative and communication network, known as "vehicle-to-everything," or V2X, is not yet in use, many countries support the technology and have begun small-scale testing. The US Department of Transportation recently released a V2X deployment plan to guide the technology's implementation.

"Collaborative sensing allows connected and autonomous vehicles to 'see' more than they could on their own by leveraging the collective sensing capabilities and data insights of a network of vehicles, but this capability comes with serious safety risks," said Z. Morley Mao, a U-M professor of computer science and engineering and senior author of the study.