Pushing Traffic into the Digital Age : A Communication Technology Comparison and Security Assessment

Sammanfattning: With the rapid advances of technology, digitisation of many facets of our existence is taking place in an attempt to improve everyday life. The automotive industry is following suit, attempting to introduce connected traffic technology that is meant to improve traffic fluidity and safety. To facilitate this, connected vehicles aim to create solutions for the sharing of information between other vehicles, infrastructure - such as traffic light controllers, and pedestrians. In an attempt to further investigate the connected vehicle landscape of today, the thesis compared the two most prominent technologies, DSRC and cellular communication. An essential part of this comparison was highlighting the potential attacks that the two technologies could be exposed to. This was done in order to open up a discussion on what technology is the most suitable to focus on for the future both in terms of viability and security. DSRC has been considered the prominent communication technology for connected vehicles, but the development has stagnated. As such, the ever-evolving cellular technology is looking like the superior technology. This, however, is reliant on 5G delivering the speeds, stability and security promised. The state of constant vehicular connection is going to lead to many issues and concerns, both for the privacy of the individual but also the safety of the public. While connected traffic aims to solve a number of issues from traffic accidents to emissions - if the security of the communication is not constantly evolving to meet the rapid development of new technology, the consequences of connecting such a delicate system might nullify the potential benefits.