A pioneering project on how connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) and their associated infrastructure can develop real-time responsiveness to cybersecurity threats, has highlighted the ‘urgent need’ for a national road transport cybersecurity program in order for the U.K. to safely support CAV adoption across the transport network.
ResiCAV – delivered by a consortium comprising HORIBA MIRA, Thales, BT, WMG at the University of Warwick, the Centre for Modelling & Simulation (CFMS), Oxfordshire County Council, AESIN Techworks, plus the University of South Wales, the University of Bristol, Coventry University and the National Digital Exploitation Centre (NDEC) – explored the feasibility of creating a U.K. cybersecurity center of excellence to detect, understand and respond to emerging cybersecurity threats in real time across the mobility eco-system. The three-month program was supported by funding from The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and was run by Zenzic and Innovate U.K.
As the first project globally to combine industrial, academic and government expertise in this way, ResiCAV determined how a U.K. center of excellence for road transport cybersecurity resilience would work. It defined the physical and virtual capabilities required and conducted ground-breaking research into the feasibility of new methods that help CAVs and their infrastructure detect, understand and respond to cyber attacks.
Anthony Martin, Head of Vehicle Resilience Technologies at HORIBA MIRA, comments: “As the U.K. moves from CAV demonstrations to mass deployment, the need to protect these vehicles and associated infrastructure from potentially catastrophic cybersecurity failures cannot be overstated.
“Ultimately, ResiCAV’s findings have highlighted the absolute and urgent need for a collaborative, industry-led, government-backed cybersecurity program, hence our next steps will be to secure funding for the development of a U.K. center of excellence for road transport cybersecurity resilience.”
