By Isabelle Robinson, M.Sc.May 25 2018As the world of transport is changing, new challenges need to be overcome. Over the last few years, the global market has slowly introduced autonomous vehicles, with large companies, such as Google, leading the charge. It is predicted that by 2025, the partially autonomous vehicles market will reach an astonishing 36 billion US dollars, and the fully autonomous vehicles market is expected to reach 6 billion dollars.
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However, with the rapid change to autonomous vehicles, there is also concern that there could be security issues. The connected and autonomous vehicles (also known as CAVs) are driverless and include full internet connectivity. This means that they are open to be hacked by criminals using basic equipment like a laptop as well as widely available software. There are significant safety concerns to the passengers of this vehicles if cybercriminals are able to crack the encryption systems and remotely control the onboard control systems. In addition to this, criminals could use these systems to disrupt the moving vehicles or simply steal the car.
To combat these fears, quantum technology has been developed in order to improve the security of CAVs and put passenger’s minds at ease.
A cybersecurity startup based in London has teamed up with Coventry University to investigate instances of hackers hijacking these connected and autonomous vehicles and research how to stop them. In addition to this, the university’s Institute for Future Transport and Cities (FTC) will collaborate with Crypta Labs to research security systems based on the randomness of light and how they can prevent cyber-attacks on these vehicles.
This collaborative project is to be funded by the Center for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (also known as CCAV) and is expected to last 12 months.
One of the research fellows for the Institute for Future Transport and Cities specializing in cybersecurity and cyber-physical systems, Dr. Hoang Nga Nguyen, believes that the main problem for the future of driverless cars is how to secure the internal systems of these connected cars.
The idea behind the new security systems uses a module that generates true random numbers using the natural randomness of light. The company software is used in conjunction with a light source, light detector and a processor to create a single Application Specific Integrated Circuit chip (ASIC). This combination allows the system to deliver a military grade encryption and making it much harder for criminals to hijack the car systems.
We believe Quantum Random Number Generation (QRNG) technology can have profound applications for transport and vehicle security. The project will serve to be a critical link in assessing how QRNG-based security could strengthen connected and autonomous vehicles.
Dr. Hoang Nga Nguyen
It is believed that the technology also has applications for the military in the remotely controlled field. The technology can protect weapons such as missiles from being hacked into or secure missile arming codes, as well as battlefield communications.
This story is reprinted from material from i-hls.com, with editorial changes made by Azo Network. The original article can be found here.
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