EPSRC DTP studentship in Cyber Security Analytics: Decision Support System on Cybersecurity Policies for Autonomous Vehicles

Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) are already being developed and deployed across various sectors at a rapid pace. It brings potential to enhance road safety and save lives, however, due to the autonomous nature and often being highly interconnected, CAV have safety threats of their own. These threats could range from cyber-attacks leveraging the increasing levels of connectivity of CAV, to unexpected results when operating in an uncontrolled environment. The wide use of AI technology in CAV further heightens the risk of cyber-attacks. Ongoing research is investigating the limitations and vulnerabilities of AI and how these technologies could increase the opportunities for the adversary to implement attacks against CAV. Currently, many developments of CAV technologies overlook the trustworthiness, responsibility and security of CAV, which could lead to low public acceptability of CAV and thus compromise widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles in society.

To be able to safely adopt and trust AI and other technologies used in CAV, they need to be developed and tested within a social and legal context. Proactive measures should be implemented such as guidance, standards and policies, to regulate the design and deployment of CAV. Addressing these new cyber threats posed to CAV is now a top priority for policy-makers, regulators, and industry officials. The NHTSA cybersecurity guidelines provide a good initial framework for this purpose. Nevertheless, it is in general difficult for the public, policy-makers and manufacturers to make judgement and decisions about the cybersecurity of CAV. This PhD studentship aims to i) generate evidence derived from both "technology and society" to help the public to understand the opportunities and cyber threats of CAV, and decide the optimal cybersecurity policies for CAV, and ii) evaluate the effectiveness of cybersecurity policies at mitigating cyber threats posed to CAV, as well as their social impacts on drivers, manufacturers and stakeholders.