Skip to main content

Japan looking at technology to prevent hacking of self-driving cars

According to the Japan Times, Japan’s Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry is concerned about the possibility that a cyber attack on self-driving car systems might lead to traffic accidents. It has drawn up guidelines in a bid to defend against the hacking of a proposed next-generation driving support system that aims to help accelerate the development of autonomous driving cars. The ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) Connect Promotion Consortium, which is made up of automakers and electronics-m
August 24, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
According to the Japan Times, Japan’s Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry is concerned about the possibility that a cyber attack on self-driving car systems might lead to traffic accidents. It has drawn up guidelines in a bid to defend against the hacking of a proposed next-generation driving support system that aims to help accelerate the development of autonomous driving cars.

The ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) Connect Promotion Consortium, which is made up of automakers and electronics-maker, is developing the system with the government. It plans to establish specifications on the technology to prevent cyber attacks in autumn this year.

The system is aimed at helping ensure safe driving by distributing information on nearby automobiles and pedestrians, traffic signals and data collected through radio communications to moving vehicles and alerting drivers to possible dangers such as blind spots. It is also expected to improve automatic emergency braking technologies to prevent collisions.

The consortium will consider encrypting such information by using special technologies to prevent it from being altered.

Autonomous driving uses such equipment as an on-vehicle camera and sensor that collect information on the surrounding environment, with related technologies being developed by automakers and electronics-makers.

Toyota is said to be considering introducing equipment compatible with the system in a planned fully remodelled version of its Prius hybrid vehicle and other vehicle models.

Related Content

  • ASECAP examines tolling’s trials, tribulations and triumphs
    September 4, 2018
    If you want to get up to speed on the main issues facing the transport sector and tolling companies, ASECAP Study Days event in Ljubljana was a good place to start. Colin Sowman reports (Photographs: Louis David). Increasing populations, ever-higher technical and safety requirements, and electric and hybrid vehicles will provide both challenges and opportunities for tolling companies. The annual Study Days event organised by ASECAP (the European association for tolling companies) examined all of these aspec
  • Viaduct deck renewal creates detour dilemma for MassDOT
    May 26, 2016
    As the deck renewal of the I-91 viaduct in Springfield gets underway, David Crawford looks at the preparation and planning to ease the resulting traffic congestion. Accommodating the deck renewal of a 4km-long/four-lanes in each direction viaduct in the heart of Springfield (Massachusetts’ third largest city), has involved the state’s Department of Transportation (MassDOT) in a massive exercise in transport research and ITS-based area-wide preplanning and traffic management. Supporting a workzone of well ab
  • Samsung to test self-driving cars in South Korea
    May 2, 2017
    South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has approved testing of Samsung’s self-driving car on the country’s roads, according to the YonHap news agency. Samsung's self-driving car is a Hyundai vehicle equipped with cameras and sensors. Samsung plans to develop top-of-the-line sensors and computer modules backed by artificial intelligence and deep-learning technologies to improve cars' self-driving capabilities even in challenging weather conditions. In November 2016, the company bought U
  • Include ITS in policy decisions from the start, not as an afterthought
    February 1, 2012
    DG TREN's Fotis Karamitsos, on why the European Commission's new ITS Action Plan is looking to the past for future direction. The European Commission's (EC's) new Action Plan for the Deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in Europe, which was announced as 2008 drew to a close, intends that transport and travel become 'cleaner; more efficient, including energy efficient; and safer and more secure'. At first sight, that wording might be interpreted as marking a significant policy shift within Europe, wit