One Single Malicious Vehicle Can Block "Smart" Street Intersections in the US
Academics from the University of Michigan have shown that one single malicious car could trick US-based smart traffic control systems into believing an intersection is full and force the traffic control algorithm to alter its normal behavior, and indirectly cause traffic slowdowns and even block street intersections.
The team's research focused on Connected Vehicle (CV) technology, which is currently being included in all cars manufactured across the globe.
While the CV acronym includes a large number of standards and protocols, there are two major technologies that are found in almost all smart cars sold in the past years.
The first is vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology, and this helps cars talk to each other by sharing movement path, direction, speed, and other settings. This allows vehicles to avoid intersecting movement paths and detect situations when one car stops suddenly, allowing nearby vehicles to avert impending collisions.
The second technology is vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and as the name clearly implies, this is a standard that shares car movement details with traffic infrastructure, such as highways junctions and city street intersections.
