Security challenges in autonomous vehicles: a case study of Camera and LiDAR sensors

Advanced communication and sensing technologies have become a focus for the development of transportation systems. The use of integrated sensors in automated driving vehicles is fundamental for the vehicle’s perception of its environment, and their performance directly determines the safety of automated driving vehicles. Generating adequate information from a single source is so difficult. That is why, for reliable and accurate environmental perception, it is essential to use adequate sensors. This article discusses the security challenges facing the main sensors used for environmental perception in autonomous vehicles’ applications. It mainly considers two types of sensors used in autonomous vehicles: cameras and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors. The paper focuses on various conditions under which these sensors may operate in practice. It analyzes and summarizes the sensors based on their mandatory attributes, with a mention of the main advantages and disadvantages. The paper also defines and simulates attack models associated with these sensors. Based on a simulator and open-source tools, this document shows the impact of some security attacks against autonomous vehicle sensors.