Empirical Investigation of Cybersecurity Challenges in Driverless Vehicular Communication

Cars without drivers are gaining reputation due to the growth in wireless communication technology. Driverless vehicular communication is a Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) technology that is evolving rapidly, addressing modern transportation needs and driving both economic and technological progress. V2V offers numerous benefits by enabling vehicles to communicate with each other and with infrastructure such as Roadside Units (RSUs). This communication helps minimize collisions, reduce fatalities, and enhance road safety for passengers. This paper aims to identify and analyze significant cybersecurity challenges that automotive organizations need to address to develop secure V2V communication for autonomous vehicles. We conducted an online survey with 51 experts from various countries. Participants were asked to rank each challenge on a five-point scale to determine its perceived significance. We identified cybersecurity challenges such as location falsification, bogus warning messages, malware attacks, and repudiation attacks as critical, according to expert feedback. Our results show that Authorization and authentication challenges, bogus warning messages, eavesdropping attacks, location falsification, malware attacks, and spoofing attacks are commonly recognized across three expert levels (i.e., junior, intermediate, and senior). Additionally, location falsification and bogus warning messages were reported as common challenges across all types of organizations (i.e., small, medium, and large). Therefore, location falsification and bogus warning messages should be prioritized by automotive organizations to ensure the development of secure V2V communication systems.