Reputation Based Traffic Event Validation and Vehicle Authentication using Blockchain Technology

Vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications are the main components in all types of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) which enables all kinds of vehicular services. Nevertheless, the criticality of this communication as it involves people's lives and its direct impact on the overall efficiency of the transportation system raises a lot of security challenges especially with the expected increase of traffic information exchange in the future with the use of autonomous driving vehicles. In this paper, a blockchain based traffic event and vehicle authentication approach is proposed which utilizes the use of proof of authority and proof of event consensus algorithms to validate traffic events and to leverage an efficient mutual authentication between vehicles and Roadside Units (RSUs). The reputation scores determined by the vehicles' statistical records helps mitigating the effect of internal attackers in addition to the detection of selfish and malicious vehicles. The simulation results indicate that the proposed solution is effective in terms of accurate event validation and internal attacker resistance.