Alabama NewsCenter — University of Alabama’s low-cost solution could help spot hacked GPS in self-driving cars

Mixed Race woman using touch screen navigation map in car

By Adam Jones
University of Alabama

Lots of hurdles remain before the emerging technology of self-driving vehicles is common, but researchers at the University of Alabama have developed a promising, inexpensive system to overcome one challenge: GPS hacking that can send a self-driving vehicle to the wrong destination.

Initial research shows self-driving vehicles can use already installed sensors to detect traveling the wrong route, even when passengers are unaware, thwarting an attempt to spoof the GPS signal to the vehicle, according to findings outlined in recently published papers in the IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems and Transportation Research Record Journal.

Relying on software code and in-vehicle sensors that are already part of the self-driving system would be cheaper for consumer and commercial vehicles to deny the hacked directions used to steer cargo or people away from their intended destination, said Mizanur Rahman, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering and affiliate researcher with the Alabama Transportation Institute.

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