A Survey on Cyber-Security of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs)

As the general development trend of the automotive industry, connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) can be used to increase transportation safety, promote mobility choices, reduce user costs, and create new job opportunities. However, with the increasing level of connectivity and automation, malicious users are able to easily implement different kinds of attacks, which threaten the security of CAVs. Hence, this paper provides a comprehensive survey on the cyber-security in the environment of CAVs with the aim of highlighting security problems and challenges. Firstly, based on the types of communication networks and attack objects, it classifies various cyber-security risks and vulnerabilities in the environment of CAVs into in-vehicle network attacks, vehicle to everything network attacks, and other attacks. Next, it regards cyber-risk as another type of attacks in the environment of CAVs. Then, it describes and analyzes up-to-date corresponding defense strategies for securing CAVs. In addition, it concludes several available cyber-security and safety standards of CAVs, which is helpful for the practical application of CAVs. Finally, several challenges and open problems are discussed for the future research.

I. Introduction

Based on incorporating many different technologies, connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) [1] have been envisioned to enhance transportation efficiency, reduce accidents, improve safety, offer great mobility service options, and alleviate environmental damage [2]. The CAVs paradigm will continue to unfold steadily and progressively throughout the 2020s and 2030s with the improvements of infrastructure and communication technologies. The global CAVs market is becoming one of biggest markets in the world. It is expected to reach 7 trillion by 2050. Furthermore, many big automotive manufacturers and high-tech giants are racing against the clock to bring practical CAVs to the market. Considering broad market prospects of CAVs, several ambitious research programs have been established around the globe. In the near future, CAVs may be used widely by the public.