The last several years have been fascinating for those of us who have been eagerly observing the steady move towards autonomous driving. While semi-autonomous vehicles have existed for many years, the vision of fleets of fully autonomous vehicles operating as a single connected entity is very much still a thing of the future. However, the latest technical advances in this area bring us a unique and compelling picture of some of the capabilities we might expect to see “down the road.” Pun intended.
For example, nearly every new vehicle produced in 2019 has a model which implements state-of-the art sensors that utilize analytics technologies,such as machine learning or artificial intelligence, and are designed to automate, assist or replace many of the functions humans were formerly responsible for. These can range from rain-sensors on the windshield to control wiper blades, to object detection sensors using radar and lidar for collision avoidance, to camera systems capable of recognizing objects in range and providing direct driving input to the vehicle.
This broad adoption represents a fascinating development in our industry; it’s one of those very rare times when researchers can lead the curve ahead of adversaries in identifying weaknesses in underlying systems.
McAfee Advanced Threat Research (ATR) has a specific goal: identify and illuminate a broad spectrum of threats in today’s complex landscape. With model hacking, the study of how adversaries could target and evade artificial intelligence, we have an incredible opportunity to influence the awareness, understanding and development of more secure technologies before they are implemented in a way that has real value to the adversary.
With this in mind, we decided to focus our efforts onthe broadly deployedMobilEye camera system, today utilized across over 40 million vehicles, includingTesla models thatimplement Hardware Pack 1.