Truck platoon security: State-of-the-art and road ahead

Trucks form a platoon, where they align in a lane on freeways, in order to save fuel. The trucks positioned behind the first truck in the platoon can save fuel because their air drag reduces. In a truck platoon, various technologies such as Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) system and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication protocol are exploited to control the trucks in the platoon effectively. The camera sensors measure distance between contiguous trucks in the platoon and these sensor measurements are provided to the ACC system. By using these sensor measurement, the ACC system controls the truck speed via in-vehicle network protocols such as the controller area network, which does not encrypt data or authenticate messages. Also, the V2V communication protocol is vulnerable to cyber attacks that disable the wireless channels among the trucks in the platoon. As a result, the ACC system and V2V communication protocol may introduce attack surfaces in a truck platoon. In this survey, we analyze the attack surfaces of a truck platoon under different perspectives. Then, we summarize the defense systems corresponding to the discussed attacks in terms of detection mechanisms, response countermeasures, and proactive defenses. Finally, we provide the research issues that need to be addressed in future.