SECURING VEHICULAR COMMUNICATIONS

The road to a successful introduction of vehicular communications has to pass through the analysis of potential security threats and the design of a robust security architecture able to cope with these threats. In this article we undertake this challenge. In addition to providing a survey of related academic and industrial efforts, we also outline several open problems

Introduction

Initiatives to create safer and more efficient driving conditions have recently begun to draw strong support. Vehicular communications (VC) will playa central role in this effort, enabling a variety of applications for safety, traffic efficiency, driver assistance, and infotainment. For example, warnings for environmental hazards (e.g., ice on the pavement) or abrupt vehicle kinetic changes (e.g., emergency braking), traffic and road conditions (e.g., congestion or construction sites), and tourist information downloads will be provided by these systems.