These communications links between vehicles and roadside infrastructure use the Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) standard at 5850-5925MHz in the US, 5855-5925MHz and 5470-5725MHz in Europe, and 5770-5850MHz in Japan.

Protecting wireless communications against attack has implications for the system developer. This in itself opens up potential vulnerabilities. As cyber threats are constantly changing, the security solutions need to be updated over the air in order to help vehicle fleets stay immune to the latest threats and attack methods. For example, researchers from Uber’s driverless car lab have hacked a Jeep Cherokee, taking over the steering and braking via the ODB port.Īs cyber-attacks on vehicles need to be mitigated in real-time, cyber security solutions must recognize malicious messages and prevent their propagation over the in-vehicle network.

One of the most basic attack scenarios is a wireless link to the On-board Debug (ODB) port, or even a simple USB stick. This has to be considered as an integral part of a safety development process such as ISO 26262. The challenge for the developer is to reduce the attack surface of the hardware and software in the system. This opens up many different “attack vectors,” from a simple USB stick to the Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) links, potentially making a driverless car vulnerable to hackers and compromising the safety of the passengers and other road users.

Autonomous cars and trucks rely on external links for a wide range of applications, from Over-The-Air (OTA) software updates to real time maps, traffic information, data from signs and roadside servers, and even data from other vehicles. With the commercial rollout of driverless cars, cybersecurity is becoming a key concern for developers.

Car hacking tools