Author: AUTOCRYPT

31 March, 2022 . 6 mins read

A Technological Path Towards Universal Mobility

What Is Universal Mobility?

Universal mobility refers to the state in which everyone has access to reliable means of transportation for necessities like going to work and school, accessing public services and healthcare, as well as shopping and socializing. Despite being taken for granted by many, there is a significant percentage of the population whose basic mobility needs are not met.

Achieving universal mobility can indeed be challenging, considering that car ownership might not be a viable option for everyone, and that there are many less-developed nations as well as sparsely populated regions where transit services are not financially sustainable. What’s more, even in places with adequate transit services, they can be difficult or impossible to access for those facing mobility challenges—for instance, people with temporary or permanent disabilities, parents of young children, and older people who need moving assistance. According to WHO estimates, 1% of the world’s population needs a wheelchair, while 3.2% of the world’s population is affected by blindness or some form of visual impairment.

Universal mobility is only said to be achieved when every member of the society—regardless of their place of residence, financial status, and physical condition—can enjoy reliable transportation on a day-to-day basis.

The Two Barriers to Universal Mobility

There are two main barriers to achieving universal mobility. The first is systematic barrier. This can be defined as a lack of motivation and initiative to improve transportation infrastructure for those in need. This could be due to a lack of public awareness with regard to accessibility needs or incompetent governments.

A second barrier is financial barrier. Even with strong motivation and improvement plans, financial challenges tend to prevent these plans from turning into actions. Problems such as high operational and maintenance costs and expensive fares make it difficult to expand transit services for sparsely populated regions and improve accessibility.

In many parts of the world, financial barrier has been the biggest obstruction to the path towards universal mobility. Indeed, building and maintaining transit services is expensive. Operating accessible transit services is more expensive. Even some of the largest metropolitan transit operators with millions of daily passengers can experience frequent budget deficits that need to be filled by government subsidies. For decades, governments around the world have been trying to solve these issues with policy changes but saw no significant improvements.

To break through the financial barrier, maintaining profitable services is crucial. Even though profitability and universal mobility may sound contradictory, they are in fact mutually inclusive. It is important to acknowledge that universal mobility is only achievable if all services are capable of long-term financial sustainability. In this regard, several newly developed mobility technologies offer great potential.

A Technological Path Towards Universal Mobility

Rather than struggling with endless policy changes, we can pave a technological path to improve transportation coverage and achieve universal mobility. With the integration of smart mobility technologies, we can make transportation and mobility services more sustainable by cutting down unnecessary costs and improving efficiency.

V2X and Autonomous Driving

V2X (vehicle-to-everything) is the wireless communication technology used for real-time message transmission from vehicles to vehicles (V2V), vehicles to infrastructure (V2I), and vehicles to pedestrians (V2P), making it an essential building block for L3+ autonomous driving. How does autonomous driving help achieve universal mobility?

Even though taxi and mobility services are common in cities, they are less common and often nonexistent in smaller towns and rural regions due to a lack of profitable business models. With L4 and L5 autonomous driving, mobility service operators can deploy autonomous vehicle fleets in these less-populated regions to fill the unaddressed demands, without incurring the cost of hiring new drivers.

Fleet Management and Service Optimization

From the perspective of a mobility service operator, every mile on the road without a passenger indicates an opportunity cost. Hence, minimizing vehicle vacancy is crucial to the long-term financial sustainability of a mobility service. A fleet management system collects mechanical and location data from every vehicle in real-time, allowing the service platform to match demands to their closest supplies and map out optimized routes to the destinations, ensuring that the vehicle fleet is utilized to its maximum capacity.

In fact, in terms of serving sparsely populated regions and those with special accessibility needs, demand-responsive transport (DRT) services are much more efficient than fixed-route transit. With the help of big data and AI, barrier-free DRT services have great potential in such niche markets.

For this reason, AUTOCRYPT started its barrier-free DRT solution, AutoCrypt EQ, helping businesses establish accessible DRT platforms for those with mobility challenges, while ensuring that all data shared through the platform are end-to-end encrypted and verified.

Reliable Transport Enhanced by Connectivity

Although cutting down unnecessary expenses is beneficial, maintaining reliable and high-quality service is equally important for achieving universal mobility. Ensuring that all services are safe, secure, and reliable is a crucial task not only for mobility service operators but also for automotive OEMs. With the accelerated adoption of vehicle connectivity and autonomous driving, it is more important than ever to secure vehicles from hacking attempts and unauthorized access. As mandated by industry regulations and standards, many automotive OEMs now run a Vehicle Security Operations Center (vSOC) that monitors the real-time security status of their active vehicles using data collected from the OEM cloud, while identifying and reporting any potential intrusions immediately.

New Business Models for Universal Mobility

These new smart mobility technologies are not only beneficial to existing service providers. They also encourage new operational models and provide growth opportunities for businesses and NGOs that look forward to improving transportation coverage and accessibility. These new business models not only have the potential to break through the typical financial challenges of public transit, but also generate more initiatives in serving niche markets and bring us closer to universal mobility.

AUTOCRYPT shares this vision and is actively working with partners to develop innovative mobility service models in the form of DRT services, accessibility mapping, and multi-modal MaaS platforms.

To learn more about AUTOCRYPT’s mobility service solutions, contact global@autocrypt.io.

To stay informed with the latest news on mobility tech and automotive cybersecurity, subscribe to AUTOCRYPT’s monthly newsletter.

11 March, 2022 . 6 mins read

Who Might Launch Cyberattacks on Connected Cars and Why?

Cyberattacks on connected cars have long been considered a potential threat to the safety of road users and pedestrians. Fortunately, we have not yet seen any reports of major cybersecurity incidents that directly affected safety-critical vehicle systems, mostly because the automotive industry has been preparing for such attacks long before any hackers have had a chance to gain a footstep in the connected car ecosystem, but also because the financial incentives of hacking vehicles have not been appealing enough to make them primary targets.

However, this does not mean that the automotive and mobility industry will not become a primary target in the future. Since 2020, cybercriminals have been frequently crossing the boundaries of IT and stepping into the OT (operational technology) environment, disrupting physical operations at factories, airports, power plants, pipelines, and even hospitals. Likewise, as the connected car ecosystem continues to grow and V2X-based autonomous driving begins to take off, there is an increased possibility that vehicles and C-ITS infrastructure could one day become a primary target of cyberattacks.

Therefore, to keep itself ahead of any potential cybercriminals, it is important for the automotive and mobility industry to analyze and predict who might be the potential perpetrators and why they would want to launch an attack. These predictions can then be used to guide the TARA (Threat Assessment and Remediation Analysis) process, followed by threat modeling and penetration testing.

These are some of the potential threat actors who might be interested in hacking the connected car ecosystem.

Nation States

Along with military strength and economic power, cyber capability has become another hidden force for countries to exert influence on the world stage. Many nation states today target their adversaries with cyber campaigns ranging from espionage and infiltration to DDoS and ransomware attacks. Common targets include government agencies, infrastructure operators, healthcare providers, schools, and businesses. As the connected car ecosystem continues to expand, nation states could target vehicles and roadside infrastructure to gain big data on a country’s road network, including details on the locations of cameras and traffic lights as well as traffic movements. The personally identifiable information (PII) associated with each vehicle owner can also be exploited to launch targeted infiltration and phishing campaigns against high-profile individuals.

In the worst-case scenario of an armed conflict, hostile states could even try to disrupt the C-ITS infrastructure to cause traffic chaos and accidents. Under Vehicle-Infrastructure Cooperated Autonomous Driving (VICAD), vehicles rely on the V2X messages received from roadside cameras and infrastructure for autonomous driving. In such a network, a DDoS attack against any of the crucial infrastructure systems can cause autonomous vehicles to lose cooperative driving capabilities and be forced to switch back to manual and ADAS driving, leading to sudden and unexpected disruptions to traffic on a wide scale.

Hacktivists and Terrorists

Hacktivists are self-organized hackers that target specific governments or organizations to raise public awareness on certain political or social causes. For those who want to target an automotive manufacturer or regional government, launching an attack against the OEM’s connected car fleets or a regional C-ITS infrastructure can be a quick and effective way to make their voices heard. In February 2022, an unknown hacker targeted a supplier of Toyota’s key components, forcing the OEM to shut down operations for 24 hours. In the future, a similar attack might be targeted directly at vehicle fleets.

Whereas hacktivists target organizations, terrorist groups target citizens. Terrorist groups in the future could also launch disruptive attacks against connected cars and road infrastructure to generate fear among the public. In an extreme case, they could even try to take control of an autonomous vehicle remotely and manipulate the vehicle to trigger crashes.

Ransomware Gangs

Ransomware gangs are financially motivated criminals that deploy ransomware on targeted networks to encrypt systems and steal sensitive data. The victims are then forced to pay a ransom if they want their system decrypted or to prevent the stolen data from being released or sold. Just like how these ransomware operators target enterprise networks, it is technically possible for them to infect connected cars with ransomware that locks certain vehicle functions until the victims pay the ransom.

The good news is that the technical difficulty of intruding a connected car system is much higher than that of an enterprise system. Even if the ransomware gets successfully deployed, the ransom payment the attacker can exploit from an individual vehicle owner is very limited. Hence, ransomware attacks against private vehicles remain very unlikely in the foreseeable future. Alternatively, attackers could try to infect the OEM’s servers to disable OTA services and steal the sensitive data of vehicle owners, forcing the OEM to make the payment.

Criminal Groups and Thieves

Criminal groups and thieves can exploit autonomous vehicles and use them as a tool to commit crimes. For instance, they could gain remote control to a parked vehicle and redirect it to a remote area under their control to steal the personal belongings of the owner. They could also control these vehicles for illegal trafficking by hiding cash, weapons, or drugs inside. Nonetheless, despite being a possibility on paper, these tactics are too complex for most criminal groups and are not likely to be exploited anytime soon.

A Well Protected Connected Car Ecosystem

Despite all the possibilities of being targeted by a wide array of perpetrators, connected cars remain the safest tech devices today. Thanks to the advanced planning and early integration of robust cybersecurity measures by the industry, launching any profitable cyberattacks on the connected car ecosystem remains extremely difficult even for the most sophisticated hackers.

AUTOCRYPT has been constantly working with OEMs and suppliers to ensure a safe and smooth transition into the connected car ecosystem. From V2X connections to in-vehicle systems, electric vehicle charging infrastructure to mobility services, AUTOCRYPT protects every endpoint to ensure that cybersecurity risk is kept at a minimum.

To learn more about AUTOCRYPT’s end-to-end solutions, contact global@autocrypt.io.

To stay informed with the latest news on mobility tech and automotive cybersecurity, subscribe to AUTOCRYPT’s monthly newsletter.

16 February, 2022 . 2 mins read

AUTOCRYPT Announces Seamless Support for China’s YD/T 3957-2021 Standard Utilizing Trusted Certificate Lists

SEOUL, KOREA, February 16, 2022 — Autonomous driving security leader, AUTOCRYPT, announced that its V2X security solution, AutoCrypt V2X, now implements YD/T 3957-2021, the newest standard for LTE-based V2N communications and credential management released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).

Announced in December 2021 and to be enforced in April 2022, YD/T 3957-2021 utilizes a Trusted Root Certificate List Authority (TRCLA), which manages a Trusted Root Certificate List (TRCL) for the many Root CAs currently authorized in China. AutoCrypt V2X’s Secure Credential Management System has been listed in two Trusted Domain CA Certificate Lists (TDCL) managed by Root CAs listed in the TRCL, meaning clients can more easily operate their connected vehicles and related software in China, without requiring certificate authentication with separate PKIs.

The company’s products already follow the strict C-SCMS standards from China, and regularly update features. CEO and co-Founder Daniel ES Kim remarked: “China has boosted its autonomous driving market in the past few years and will continue to be a major region for development vehicular technology. However, due to its strict C-SCMS standards, many find it difficult to enter the market. Our SCMS ensures full compliance and seamless operations for our OEM and Tier-1 supplier partners who want to utilize V2X communications in China.”

Apart from being the sole V2X provider for all eight C-ITS development projects in South Korea, AUTOCRYPT’s V2X security solution and SCMS has refined its marketability through experience with customers and partners in China, Europe, and North America. Furthermore, its cross-industry interoperability was repeatedly demonstrated at the “Four Layers” C-V2X interoperability demonstration held annually in Shanghai—one of the largest V2X application testing events in the world.

AutoCrypt V2X is the first and only V2X security solution to have successfully completed the demonstration in both areas of device security and the PKI backend. The company is also the first and only provider to have demonstrated interoperability across all three major Security Credential Management System (SCMS) protocols, including the US-based SCMS, European-based C-ITS CMS (CCMS), and China-SCMS (C-SCMS).

16 February, 2022 . 6 mins read

Top 4 Car Features That Rely on Vehicle-to-Cloud Connectivity

As modern vehicles become increasingly connected and software-oriented, the role of the cloud in the vehicular environment continues to grow. For many years, automotive manufacturers and suppliers have been looking for innovative ways to utilize vehicle-to-cloud (V2C) connectivity to enhance the mobility experience and introduce new features to their vehicles. Today, the role of vehicle-to-cloud connectivity is no longer limited to providing peripheral benefits like onboard entertainment but is also relied upon for many crucial operational and security functions. Here are four vehicle features that utilize vehicle-to-cloud connectivity.

1. Vehicle Maintenance and Over-the-Air (OTA) Software Updates

The growing sophistication of modern vehicles has made regular maintenance and software updates more important than ever. Yet, keeping track of when to make the next maintenance and servicing appointment can be quite a hassle for vehicle owners. To streamline the maintenance process, many automotive OEMs now collect and store telematics data from their active vehicle fleets to keep the owners informed of their vehicle conditions. Based on the owner’s consent, collected data usually contain odometer readings, average mileage, and other mechanical information from the in-vehicle system. Vehicle-to-cloud connectivity allows these data to be synchronized in real-time with the OEM cloud, enabling vehicle owners to view their vehicle information and receive notifications on maintenance schedules via their online accounts.

Whereas hardware maintenance can be performed once per year, software updates should ideally be updated as soon as a feature upgrade or security patch is available to avoid exposing the vehicle to software vulnerabilities. Just like how PCs receive automatic updates, many OEMs have started pushing over-the-air (OTA) software updates to their vehicles from the cloud servers. All updates are sent via the Internet as soon as they become available so that users no longer need to take any actions or worry about software-related recalls.

2. Vehicle Security Operations Center (vSOC)

The Vehicle Security Operations Center (vSOC) is another important feature that relies on vehicle-to-cloud connectivity. As vehicles become “computers on wheels”, it has become the OEMs’ responsibility to manage post-production security risks during a vehicle’s lifespan. The vSOC is a centralized cybersecurity management system that allows an OEM to monitor abnormal activities and manage security threats in its connected vehicle fleets and related services in real-time. Like the Security Operations Center (SOC) used in the enterprise environment, the vSOC continuously monitors all in-vehicle systems by tracking and analyzing vehicle log data so that the OEM can detect and respond to any anomalies immediately, preventing any malicious intrusions from causing any damage.

Many OEMs today are adopting vSOCs to comply with vehicular cybersecurity regulations like WP.29. There are multiple approaches to designing a vSOC. The OEM can either choose to integrate the vSOC to their existing enterprise SOC or build an independent vSOC isolated from the corporate network. Some might also choose to outsource both development and monitoring to a third-party provider in the form of vSOC-as-a-Service. Regardless of the design, a vSOC must be connected to the OEM cloud to synchronize real-time data from the vehicles it needs to protect.

To learn more about vSOCs, see AutoCrypt vSOC.

3. Third-Party Applications

With internet connectivity (either embedded or tethered), the in-vehicle infotainment system today runs a variety of built-in and third-party applications, just like smartphones. These can range from music and video streaming apps to smart navigation and car payment tools. These applications act as a bridge that connects the vehicle to third-party cloud servers and platforms, utilizing internet connectivity from the eSIM (embedded SIM) or tethered cellular data from Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

4. Electronic Control Units (ECU) in the Cloud

ECUs are collectively the brain of a vehicle. These are chips with low computing power that are ideal for handling independent and repetitive tasks. The modern-day car has on average 100 ECUs, and each of them is responsible for controlling a specific feature. Hence the more features a vehicle has, the more ECUs need to be built into it. This has led to an emerging problem; as vehicles become increasingly sophisticated, using a great number of ECUs and having each control an independent task might no longer be ideal. Having too many ECUs in a vehicle not only complicates the manufacturing process, but also makes it difficult and costly to diagnose issues in the long run.

One solution to this problem is to centralize a vehicle’s computing power. That is, instead of having over 100 ECUs controlling independent tasks, one or two CPUs can be embedded to take over a high number of tasks simultaneously like PCs. Many OEMs have adopted this approach, with many expecting this centralized E/E architecture to take over conventional architecture by the mid-2020s.

As 5G technology starts to kick in, many experts have proposed an alternative solution that utilizes vehicle-to-cloud connectivity; that is to adopt a cloud-based E/E architecture by moving certain ECUs to the cloud. Despite seeming like an unrealistic approach during the 4G era, debates around this solution have resurfaced in the world of 5G thanks to the incredibly low latency of 5G networks. Although it can still seem radical to move all ECU functions to the cloud, a hybrid approach may be adopted where only ECUs crucial to safety are kept locally while the rest gets relocated to the cloud.

Securing Vehicle-to-Cloud Connectivity

As 5G network infrastructure becomes increasingly mature, more and more car features will be reliant on cloud storage and possibly cloud computing, delivering a wide range of digitalized mobility experiences. However, as much as how the vSOC can be utilized to enhance the security of in-vehicle systems, the data that travels between the vehicle and the OEM cloud must also be protected.

AutoCrypt V2X is a complete V2X (vehicle-to-everything) solution that secures all connections between the host vehicle and other end entities it communicates with, including entities located in the cloud. It safely authenticates all users in the connected vehicular environment and encrypts all data and messages in transmission.

To learn more about AUTOCRYPT’s end-to-end solutions, contact global@autocrypt.io.

To stay informed with the latest news on mobility tech and automotive cybersecurity, subscribe to AUTOCRYPT’s monthly newsletter.

24 January, 2022 . 4 mins read

Infographic: Potential Cyberattacks in Connected Cars and Mobility

Cyberattacks in connected cars are becoming an increasing threat. A modern connected car has a highly sophisticated electrical/electronic (E/E) architecture that contains up to 100 electronic control units (ECU) linked through multiple Controller Area Network (CAN) buses. Moreover, vehicle and driving data generated from the internal system are exchanged and shared with outside parties–including the OEM cloud, third-party clouds, smartphones, and other road users–through various forms of connectivity protocols, from satellite and Bluetooth to Wi-Fi and cellular. As a result, the modern vehicle contains a lot of endpoints that may be vulnerable to attackers. To secure a connected vehicle, it is crucial to consider all potential attack vectors that attackers could use, from man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks to message spoofing.

The below infographic illustrates some of the most common entry points and how they must be secured.

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Entry Point I. Head Unit

The vehicle’s head unit is the closest entry point to its internal system, often containing a mainboard ECU that serves the infotainment system, and a gateway ECU that directs application requests to the CAN bus. If a hacker gains access to the head unit, they are only one step away from gaining control of the CAN buses and ECUs, potentially taking over the vehicle.

Risks? Vehicle hijacking, vehicle takeover

By who? Criminals

Solution?

AutoCrypt IVS

  • Intrusion detection and protection system (IDPS)
  • ECU protection
  • Vehicle security operations center (vSOC)

Entry Point II. V2X Messages

In the C-ITS environment, V2X messages are transmitted between road participants like vehicles, infrastructure, and pedestrians in real-time. Attackers can attempt to spoof the V2X messages broadcasted from these participants, leading to wrong judgments and even potentially controlling the targeted vehicles. They could also sniff the messages to steal data.

Risks? Vehicle hijacking, vehicle takeover, theft, terrorism, data breach

By who? Nation-states, criminals, thieves

Solution?

AutoCrypt V2X

  • Message encryption
  • User verification via Security Credential Management System (SCMS)
  • Integrated certificate management

Entry Point III. EV Charging Station

When an EV is plugged into a public charging station, the charging operator collects the owner’s membership and payment card information for transaction processing. An attacker can target the Plug&Charge (PnC) system to steal membership credentials and credit card details, or potentially attack the power grid.

Risks? Data breach, payment card fraud

By who? Nation-states, criminals

Solution?

AutoCrypt PnC

  • PKI-based Plug&Charge user verification
  • Message encryption
  • OCPP support

Entry Point IV. OBD-II Port

Onboard diagnostics (OBD) tracks a vehicle’s condition and driving behaviour. Such information is used by fleet operators and technicians for management and maintenance. The OBD-II port provides access to information on the powertrain, emission control systems, Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), and all kinds of driving information. When targeting the OBD-II port, an attacker could gain access to these sensitive data and possibly even inject malicious code into the CAN bus.

Risks? Vehicle hijacking, data breach

By who? Nation-states, criminals

Solution?

AutoCrypt IVS

  • Intrusion detection and protection system (IDPS)

AutoCrypt FMS

  • Secure fleet management through machine learning and AI
  • Proprietary OBD-II units

Entry Point V. Smart Key

Smart keys unlock a vehicle with electronic signals. Unlike keys with buttons, smart keys continuously release signals to allow keyless entry. Thieves could hack the smart key and redirect the signals to unlock and even turn on a car.

Risks? Vehicle theft

By who? Thieves

Solution?

AutoCrypt Digital Key

  • PKI-based certification and user verification
  • Carsharing and restriction settings

Entry Point VI. Telematics Control Unit

The TCU facilitates all wireless communications between the vehicle and the outside world, normally containing an eSIM, radio data system (RDS), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and a V2X connectivity unit. When the attacker access the telematics of a vehicle, possibly by injecting malware through a malicious app on a connected smartphone, they could attack the head unit directly.

Risks? Vehicle hijacking, vehicle takeover

By who? Criminals

Solution?

AutoCrypt IVS

  • Intrusion detection and protection system (IDPS)

AutoCrypt V2X

  • User verification via Security Credential Management System (SCMS)
14 January, 2022 . 9 mins read

6 Trending Technologies in the New Age of Automobile and Mobility

Mobility is one of the most vibrant industries today with tremendous room for technological and market growth. As we get accustomed to having smart devices and internet connectivity on hand wherever we go, it becomes inevitable to integrate computing power and connectivity into the automotive and mobility environment.

The focus of the mobility industry is to make the experience of road users enjoyable and the mobility ecosystem efficient and sustainable. To achieve these goals, businesses across diverse fields have been pouring investments and resources into the industry, including automotive, transportation, electronics, energy, ICT, semiconductors, computing, and software. By now, there is no doubt that the next innovation boom will encompass the automotive and mobility industry.

What are the key technologies driving this innovation boom? By examining every aspect of the mobility ecosystem, we observed six trending deep technologies that will rule our roads in the coming years.

Trend 1: Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a crucial technology that drives a wide range of mobility innovations, especially autonomous driving. First, there are the ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems), which many refer to as Autopilot. Even though we often say that ADAS are based on cameras and sensors, the underlying computations are powered by AI. The cameras only capture the imagery, while the built-in AI identifies the captured objects based on their shapes and movement patterns, then instructs the vehicle to react appropriately using intelligent modeling.

Next, there is V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communication, which serves as the bridge towards Vehicle-Infrastructure Cooperated Autonomous Driving (VICAD), a set of necessary features for higher levels of driving automation. V2X is a wireless communication technology that enables vehicles to transmit messages in real-time with other vehicles (V2V), road infrastructure (V2I), and pedestrians (V2P). Again, these messages are read and processed by AI, allowing every road user to respond and cooperate in real-time.

Besides AI’s role in autonomous driving, it is used to enhance the user experience for a wide range of mobility services, including carsharing, ridesharing, and ride-hailing platforms, where algorithms help match demand and supply at the right time and location.

Trend 2: Big Data

If data is the new oil, then the mobility ecosystem is the oil reserve. At any given moment, data are generated by hundreds of millions of vehicles and mobility services around the world. These include panel data with information on vehicle condition, driving behavior, location, traffic load, service usage, and many more. Moreover, the number of connected vehicles in use worldwide is forecasted to reach 120 million in 2025 and 700 million by 2030. These connected vehicles will contribute to a tremendous volume of big data that will be used for two main purposes: automation and optimization.

Big data is the fuel that powers AI and autonomous driving. Even though it is quite easy for an autonomous vehicle to learn how to drive by the rules, on the road, there are countless situations where rules are broken by unusual situations and environments. To ensure that vehicles can respond to every unusual situation safely, a massive quantity of data must be fed into the machine learning process. Researchers at the University of Michigan claimed in their research that 17.7 billion kilometers of autonomous driving data must be collected to prove that driverless vehicles can operate safely at an 80% confidence interval. To put it in perspective, this is 118 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun.

Another use of big data is product and service optimization. Many automotive OEMs, including the BMW Group, collect vehicle data from their vehicle fleets under their customers’ consent. This allows them to improve vehicle quality and maintenance services, as well as to make feature enhancements based on the customers’ behavioral feedback. For instance, by tracking mileage and usage data, customers will be notified whenever periodic maintenance is needed. Also, by analyzing data on the number of times a feature is activated, the OEM can prioritize enhancing certain features and phase out some unused features. In the case of BMW, the company also shares its fleet data with other businesses in the European Economic Area (EEA) who wish to use the data for innovative business models, such as pay-as-you-drive insurance policies. Other service providers like Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) operators can learn from the usage data generated from their platforms to establish more efficient and responsive ride services.

Trend 3: Next-Generation Communication

As mentioned earlier, the wireless connections used for autonomous driving are generally referred to as V2X, which forms the vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET), a mobile network that facilitates both direct and indirect transmission of messages. V2X can be facilitated by several different communication protocols, utilizing Wi-Fi, LTE, and 5G standards. The Wi-Fi-based protocol was established by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and first introduced in its IEEE 802.11p release, widely referred to as DSRC (dedicated short-range communication) or WAVE (wireless access in vehicular environments), allowing vehicles to communicate directly with other OBUs and RSUs on the road using Wi-Fi technology.

The LTE and 5G-based protocols were developed by the 3GPP, collectively known as C-V2X (cellular V2X). This can be further broken down into direct C-V2X, which utilizes the PC5 interface; and indirect C-V2X, utilizing the Uu interface. Like WAVE, The PC5 interface allows road users to communicate directly with other vehicles and infrastructure nearby using embedded LTE and 5G connectivity. On the other hand, the Uu interface connects road users to the cellular network, allowing all participants to connect indirectly with the Internet as a medium. Such indirect C-V2X is sometimes called V2N (vehicle-to-network).

Whereas 3G and 4G LTE standards were developed primarily for smartphones and mobile communications, next-generation communication standards like 5G and 6G emphasize serving the needs of IoT and vehicular communications. Therefore, we will continue to see faster and more reliable ICT technologies in the future, driving innovations for a seamless and safe mobility experience.

Trend 4: Embedded Hardware/Software

The E/E (electrical/electronic) architecture of vehicles is undergoing continuous experimentations and improvements. Traditionally, the computing power of a typical vehicle is entirely contributed by microcontrollers called electronic control units (ECU) – typically up to 100 of them – each of which serves a particular function; some control the mechanical components while others control the infotainment system. However, the computing power of these ECUs is becoming increasingly insufficient for the new software-defined computer-like vehicles. Consequently, OEMs are introducing more creative ways of arranging the in-vehicle system by adopting a more centralized architecture. Many are experimenting with embedding one or two CPUs into the system so that dozens of functions can be controlled by one central computer. These changes have pushed the need for more chipsets and software modules with greater computing capability and functionality. Even though automotive chips and components were once considered an unattractive business for many semiconductor firms due to small purchase quantities and low profit margins, this growing need for more sophisticated components is driving more chipmakers and software suppliers into the mobility game.

Trend 5: Next-Generation Powertrain

Electrification is revolutionizing the vehicle powertrain. Everyone knows that electric vehicles (EV) generate less carbon emission than ICE vehicles, but how do the two different powertrains compare in terms of performance? Perhaps the two major differences are engine efficiency and energy storage. Looking at ICE powertrains first, Internal combustion engines are surprisingly inefficient, in which when they burn fuel and transform it into power, a lot of extra energy is wasted in the form of heat. Nonetheless, the upside is that gasoline is very easy to store. On the other hand, electric motors are much more efficient, transforming most of the energy into power with very little heat waste. Yet, it is much more difficult to conserve energy within the battery, especially in freezing temperatures. Ironically, since electric motors are so efficient that very little heat is generated, it becomes a problem in the winter as all the heat must be transmitted to the battery to maintain adequate performance, leaving no leftover heat for the cabin (meaning that additional electricity is consumed to power the heater).

Therefore, current research and developments in the automotive industry are focusing on battery technology, especially on ways to conserve energy and keep unnecessary drainage to a minimum. Energy firms are dedicated to increasing battery efficiency and reducing carbon emissions in the battery production process, while OEMs are working on making powertrain improvements for more optimized energy distribution within the vehicle.

Another related industry is the EV charging industry. Currently, the charging process can be quite complicated as users need to download apps for each charging provider and register as a member. Plug&Charge (PnC) technology is developed so that the entire charging process becomes standardized and automated. The user only needs to plug in their charger and payment will be made to the respective charging provider automatically.

Trend 6: Security

As the mobility ecosystem becomes increasingly interconnected with data sharing occurring in real-time, cybersecurity must be implemented wherever data exist to keep them safe from theft and tampering. Given the high volume of personal and vehicular data in the industry, it is only a matter of time before threat actors start targeting our roads.

Fortunately, governments and industry working parties have taken a step ahead of the game by establishing regulations like the WP.29 updates that mandate cybersecurity type approval for vehicles and infrastructure, as well as standards and protocols for user verification and message encryption, such as the Security Credential Management System (SCMS).

AUTOCRYPT is a leading security deep tech in the industry. Its AutoCrypt IVS in-vehicle security solution is designed to meet WP.29 regulatory needs by providing security design, testing, implementation, and monitoring for OEMs. It combines an industry-leading intrusion detection system (IDS) with ECU protection capabilities and a vSOC (vehicle security operations center) that monitors fleet safety in real-time.

AutoCrypt V2X integrates security modules into the V2X connectivity units (OBUs and RSUs) to enable message encryption and data security. AutoCrypt SCMS utilizes PKI-based credential management to sign and verify V2X users, compatible with the SCMS, European-based C-ITS CMS (CCMS), and Chinese-based C-SCMS.

Apart from autonomous driving security, AUTOCRYPT also offers secure fleet management for fleet operators and PnC solutions that secure EV charging.

To learn more about AUTOCRYPT’s end-to-end solutions, contact global@autocrypt.io.

To stay informed with the latest news on mobility tech and automotive cybersecurity, subscribe to AUTOCRYPT’s monthly newsletter.