ASW Conversations: Shoring up cybersecurity in autonomous vehicles

In an autonomous vehicle, safety is paramount. Cybersecurity in particular plays perhaps the most important role in the safety of pedestrians and the vehicle occupants.

A security flaw or attack could be deadly.

Peter Watkins, chief operating officer at QA Consultants, a Toronto-based software engineering services firm that works in the automotive space, highlights the importance and the work being done around cybersecurity in autonomous vehicles — especially as more corporations utilize the technology — in today’s episode of Auto Service World Conversations with host Peter Bulmer.

The key is shoring up key points of vulnerability, which is easier said than done.

“There isn’t one solution for cybersecurity in the vehicle that handles all of these vulnerable points of attack,” Watkins explained.

Another challenge? Overcoming latency.

“Each time you add that type of software to detect what is a good message, what’s a bad message, you introduce extra time in this instructions that go between the various components of the vehicle and could create unintended consequences in how the software and the vehicle works because of this extra layer of cybersecurity that’s being introduced into the vehicle itself,” he explained.

Watkins also dives into liability concerns, challenges around explaining cybersecurity, bias in software, consumer adoption, expectations and trust, why he thinks adoption will be phenomenal — and more.

Tune into the conversation by clicking the banner above or through this link.