The goal of this research is to gain knowledge about cybersecurity vulnerabilities in emerging mobility technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, onboard sensors, monitoring systems, and customizable and shared car services. These new mobility solutions have the potential of reducing cost, time, and resources (such as maintenance cost, insurance, parking, etc.) and provide home-like travel environments that may contain as much personal data as is available in the home, but with potentially easier accessibility through sharing the physical space and services with strangers. Proposed future mobility solutions have focused on technological advances without adequate consideration of any potential cybersecurity risks to users.
In our proposed research, we will examine the vulnerability of these new technologies when combined with data breaches and intelligent data mining malware. To do so, we will work with an alliance of autonomous vehicle manufacturers to conduct mixed research methods from i) an experiment in a real size vehicle to gain the knowledge on what kinds of sensitive user data can be carelessly collected by connected sensors and vehicles, ii) observations and interviews to collect users’ perception on the experience, and iii) expert interviews with professionals in automotive industry to understand their awareness of the cybersecurity in future mobility solutions.
We will use the results of this new research and build on our prior work in educating the next generation of cyber-talented designers through cybersecurity curricula and design guidelines. We will continue to work with transportation manufacturers to promote cybersecurity concerns in their concept development of new mobility solutions.
