On The Manipulation of Wheel Speed Sensors and Their Impact in Autonomous Vehicles

Modern vehicles and in particular automated or autonomous vehicles utilize data gained from wheel speed sensors for various functionalities like determining current speed or electronic stability control. The wheel speed is derived from a multitude of hall sensors. By generating an electromagnetic field with a fitting frequency it is possible to change the wheel speed sensor's interpretation of wheel speed. The braking system and electronic stability control would then base their actions on incorrect data possibly leading to a dangerous situation. In this research, we investigate practical feasibility and impact of such attacks. For this, an audio amplifier and a Helmholtz coil were used to emit electromagnetic fields with varying frequencies. We then analyse the effect of a single manipulated wheel speed sensor on the electronic stability control used in modern vehicles (using a hardware-in-the-loop setup). We finally describe consequences and possible countermeasure for the upcoming autonomous and highly automated vehicles.