On the Edge in Autonomous Vehicles: Part 2

Jumping the Hurdles

ADAS, AD, and eventually ACES technologies offer a potpourri of attack surfaces. Many of these technologies are internet connected, and for purposes of coordination they also connect with one another. With so many access points, smart cars become highly vulnerable to hackers. At the annual Pwn2Own cybersecurity challenge, a team of two white hats was able to break into the infotainment system of a Tesla Model 3. From there, they ran minimal code of their own and soon took over operation. In other words, the car became theirs. Of course, the security flaw was reported to Tesla, and the car company soon issued a patch to fix that vulnerability.¹⁴

However, the point is that all systems attached to the internet are, at all times, targets for hackers. Regulators, academia, and industry leaders are taking a proactive approach to this problem. In the U.K., the Resilient Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (ResiCAV) consortium conducted a three-month study into the means for “detecting, understanding, and responding in real time to emerging cybersecurity threats across the mobility ecosystem,” releasing their findings in May of 2020.¹⁵

Another key hurdle is the uncertainty of communications standards. As Frost & Sullivan reports, “regulatory indecision is hampering automakers in North America and Europe. The U.S. government’s call for OEMs to comment on what existing/future technologies could be used for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications — dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), LTE cellular-V2X (C-V2X), or 5G New Radio (NR), among them — evoked widely differing responses. A similar exercise in the EU resulted in a majority of member states rejecting the Wi-Fi–based DSRC system.”¹⁶

Lacking clear regulatory direction, the global market is today split into two principal camps: proponents of DSRC and backers of C-V2X. Ultimately, Frost & Sullivan believes C-V2X will emerge as the most prominent industry standard. However, the group recognizes that most automakers will not commit until they determine their own preferences and strategies and see how regulations unfold.¹⁷

Of course, one of the greatest challenges in V2X communications in an ACES world is the achievement of low latency. As Srini Kalapala, VP of technology and network cloud for Verizon, explains, “It’s got to be low latency because you’re dealing with machines [moving] at high speeds. Things are being decided at a much faster pace. So we’re going to [move] from human-centric connectivity, delivering reliable connections for humans to do things, to now [needing] connectivity [at the speed of] machines.”

Another obstacle is the fact that ADAS, AD, and ACES capabilities must be tested and proven in real-world conditions. But to do so on just any highway or byway places the public at risk. Fortunately, the solution is at hand. According to a fall 2019 survey from Forbes Insights, 37% of OEMs and their suppliers “are making use of smart roadways for their connected vehicle testing, [with] another 42% intending to do so within three years.”¹⁸

Jeff Rupp, former chief technical officer and chief safety officer at the American Center for Mobility, describes the testing track his ACM group maintained as consisting of "500 acres less than an hour west of Detroit offering just about any characteristics you might need, from highway and rural roadways to urban environments.” The facility “includes features such as a 700-foot highway tunnel, a hazardous weather simulator, and a triple-deck highway overpass.” The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) offers a similar facility. Jim Sayer, UMTRI’s director and chief investigator, is tackling communications standards head-on. “Roadways will be smart, equipped with sensors so that traffic is directed based on real-time conditions (I2V), not historic trends,” he says. “It is important to demonstrate that cellular V2X and dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) can occupy adjacent channels in a real-world environment.”¹⁹

For both Rupp and Sayer, safety is paramount. “There’s an understanding among those working in this area that we cannot afford to make mistakes — as any missteps are likely to result in disproportionate pushback and delays,” says Rupp.

“What’s particularly important to appreciate about this future is just how many different disciplines and interests have to come into play for mobility to safely achieve its optimized future potential,” says Sayer. “So much learning and so many advances are taking place at such a rapid pace in interrelated fields, from materials sciences to AI and 5G. Even better understanding of the human factors within behavioral sciences can have a huge impact on safety [and effectiveness].” Creating partnerships with universities and research centers becomes essential. “Getting it right, bringing everything together, building in the needed safety requires a disciplined, systems-based approach aligning research, industry, and government,” says Sayer.²⁰

Another key challenge for the industry will be finding the perfect balance between cloud-resident and edge-resident data and applications. According to Roman Pacewicz, chief product officer at AT&T, “The network itself is going to become a lot more intelligent, because basically it will no longer just move packets from point A to point B but will actually route application flows and enable this whole ecosystem to work. That has huge implications on network, network design, and also edge compute. Compute is going to have to come closer to where the processing and where the data applications are, and networks are going to have to become much more intelligent.”

Better-designed networks, along with low latency processing and broad connectivity, will bring the world many steps closer to what Verizon’s Kalapala calls “collective intelligence.” AI will be “extremely prevalent, [with] lots of decisions, lots of proactive conclusions being drawn from available data,” he says. As more data is drawn from more sensors on the vehicle, on the road, and all around, and then is processed within mere milliseconds, a state of collective intelligence can be achieved. It’s here, says Kalapala, that such a system can “drive all these deeper insights [leading to the] most profound outcomes — elevating your car to drive without having an accident.”