Winners of £1.2 million self-driving vehicle cyber security feasibility studies funding announced

Zenzic, the organisation dedicated to accelerating the self-driving revolution in the UK, has revealed the recipients of £1.2 million in funding from a competition focused on cyber security in self-driving vehicles. The Cyber Securities Feasibility studies competition is part-funded by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. The competition winners will help define requirements for, and support the development of a connected and automated mobility (CAM) cyber security testing capabilities.

Zenzic’s UK Connected and Automated Mobility Roadmap to 2030, which is based on the input of over 150 organisations across government, academia and industry, highlights cyber resilience as the most significant technical challenge to be solved before the UK can benefit from self-driving vehicles on roads and the services they will underpin. Self-driving vehicles will need to communicate with other vehicles, infrastructure and third-party services, with data being shared across an ever-evolving and increasingly complex national infrastructure.The competition winners will focus on three key areas:Finding ways to measure and maintain cyber-physical resilience and identify vulnerabilities, which will support the creation and testing of cyber-physical and software architectures, best practice in design and lifetime managementProviding specifications to support the creation of new cyber test facilities for connected and self-driving vehiclesExploring commercial opportunities to develop new cyber-related services that can be deployed in the UK and across the global CAM marketplaceSeven projects have been awarded funding:ResiCAV – HORIBA MIRA, BT, CFMS Services, Oxfordshire County Council, Techworks, Thales, WMGThe use of current tools and techniques applied to static analysis of vehicles will be applied to real-time monitoring and response. It will develop requirements for a cyber security operations centre and extend the application of AI and data visualisation techniques.  

CAVShield – Honda R&D Europe (UK) Ltd, IBM, Nexor, Toshiba, University of BristolFocuses on the data privacy aspects of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) to identify methodologies for real-time identification and measurement of vulnerabilities in CAV networks to enable widespread implementation to protect large vehicle fleets. This includes long-term commercial viability of cyber-related services for the CAM industry.  Project Meili – IDIADA UK, Crypta Labs, TeskalabsEvaluation of new cybersecurity risks arising from the increasing connectivity in modern vehicles. Based on the network analysis performed and the threats uncovered, a modular hardware and software platform will be defined and demonstrated to test and evaluate the impact of C-ITS on traffic safety, driver confidence, and infrastructure development. 

V2X Vulnerability Mapping – F-SecureDevelopment and application of testing methodologies for V2X infrastructure that are effective in providing comprehensive technical assessment of cyber risk exposure in a cost-effective and scalable manner, while allowing focused detection on the points that matter most.  

PNT Cyber Resilience – Spirent, WMGPositioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) products and services will be examined to demonstrate and determine the feasibility of a new observer-based technique to ‘attack’ and test CAV PNT-related functions in both controlled and real-world scenarios DT-4-CT – Chilton Computing, Huduma, Oxfordshire County Council, Science and Technology Facilities CouncilResearching cybersecurity threats to connected vehicle networks and proposing a cybersecurity testing methodology using a digital twinning approach to identify and measure dynamic threats and suggest mitigation strategies.  

BeARCAT – Cisco, Millbrook Proving Ground, Telefonica UK, WMGBeARCAT will explore the feasibility of a coherent, holistic approach to Cybersecurity testing for connected vehicle networks in the UK through CAV Testbeds.

The competition  is part of the government’s £100 million CAM Testbed UK Fund, supporting the Future of Mobility Grand Challenge. As a key part of the UK government’s modern Industrial Strategy, the Future of Mobility Grand Challenge was announced in 2017 to encourage and support extraordinary innovation in UK engineering and technology, making the UK a world leader within the transport industries.

This includes facilitating profound changes in transport technologies and business models, to make the movement of people, goods and services across the nation greener, safer, easier and more reliable.

Richard Porter, Technology and Innovation Director at Zenzic said:“The UK has one of the world’s leading cyber resilience industries. We have incredible academic institutions and testing facilities across the country, and have paved the way for cyber security technology development since the birth of the internet. With the advent of self-driving vehicles, the complexity of cyber defences will increase as thousands of vehicles, pieces of road-side infrastructure and connecting systems need to share data securely. This is an opportunity for the UK to build on the decades of experience we already have and once again set the standards for the rest of the world to follow.

”Future of Transport Minister, George Freeman, said:“The connected and self-driving vehicle sector is set to be worth £62 billion by 2030, with safer roadsand smoother, more accessible journeys for all. Whether we’re turning cars into Wi-Fi connected hotspots or equipping them with millions of lines of code, we must consider the new challenges ​of putting this technology into practice. Today’s £1.2 million funding boost will help to guarantee the future safety and security of self-driving vehicles, both in the UK and globally.

”Business Minister, Nadhim Zahawi, said:“Many of the cars on sale today include assistance systems that drivers are familiar with, like cruise control and lane-keeping technology. Future vehicles will be even more advanced. This funding will help ensure this technology is safe and secure, and will grow our status as a global leader in defining the future of mobility and, in particular, connected and autonomous vehicles.”Zenzic released its ‘UK Connected and Automated Mobility Roadmap to 2030’ report in September 2019 which can be downloaded here: https://zenzic.io/roadmap/

About ZenzicZenzic created by government and industry to champion the connected and self-driving ecosystem and accelerate the self-driving revolution in the UK. The company drives collaboration with partners across industry, government and academia to shape a world-class Testbed UK, and to deliver a comprehensive UK Connected and Automated Mobility Roadmap to 2030. Zenzic is channelling £200 million of investment, with the goal of ensuring a safer, more inclusive and productive mobile future.

About Innovate UK Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas, including those from the UK’s world-class research base. They connect businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn these ideas into commercially successful products and services, and business growth. Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation.

About BEIS The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is working to build an economy that works for everyone, so that there are great places in every part of the UK for people to work and for businesses to invest, innovate and grow. The Department is responsible for business, industrial strategy, science, research and innovation, energy and clean growth, and climate change.

About the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV)The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles seeks to keep the UK at the forefront of the development and deployment of connected and self-driving vehicles through policy development, regulatory reform and joint investment with industry into R&D and testing facilities.

Source: Zenzic

Cradlepoint annonce first integration of machine learning into NetCloud service

Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-delivered LTE and 5G Ready wireless edge solutions, announced new machine learning capabilities for its NetCloud Service.

Designed to assist retail, enterprise and government customers in managing large and distributed wireless WANs, the technology enables NetCloud to learn data usage patterns on wireless links to accurately project future usage and potential overages. As a result, organizations can virtually eliminate the risk of overages by proactively managing their cellular data plans across one or more mobile operators.

Retailers are connecting more people, places and things as they deliver new customer experiences within and beyond their brick-and-mortar stores.

This includes next-generation display, marketing, shopping and loss prevention technologies as well as deployment of pop-up stores, kiosks and even mobile showrooms. These innovations are driving more cellular WAN endpoints, making it challenging for IT managers to plan and monitor data consumption.

Cradlepoint’s first implementation of machine learning within its NetCloud Service provides data plan consumption insights and intelligence that would be difficult to discover manually.  

Cradlepoint is a major provider of 5G Ready wireless edge networking for LTE in the retail space and currently serves 75% of the world’s top retailers, including David’s Bridal and PANDORA Jewelry.

Evolving to Wireless SD-WAN for Retail

The integration of machine learning capabilities underlines Cradlepoint’s leadership in evolving SD-WAN technology for a wireless world. The retail market, in particular, is poised to make the shift to a more wireless WAN for the following reasons:

Increase in network scale. The growth of IoT devices within retail networks and more network-connected, nontraditional locations such as kiosks and pop-up store locations are driving growth in LTE connections; this only accelerates with 5G. With more endpoints and locations come more management challenges that will benefit from increased WAN automation and intelligence. 

Uniformity of WAN access. As more activity and applications are deployed across retail outlets to improve customer experience, the need for more agile, reliable and bigger WAN access links at every location is required. Achieving customer experience uniformity in towns large and small requires uniformity of WAN access that only cellular can provide, driving adoption of advanced and Gigabit-Class LTE — and eventually 5G — as the primary WAN access link. 

Microsegmentation using wireless. Bringing in IoT can be a security risk, and wireless offers an easy way to create an air-gapped, segmented network that implicitly isolates IoT devices and traffic from the corporate WAN. But managing multiple networks or network vendors can make this difficult from an IT perspective, especially for leaner retail IT organizations. SD-WAN needs to evolve beyond the branch to support different endpoints and device networks from a single pane of glass.

Beyond zero-touch deployment, zero-touch networks. With the addition of machine learning intelligence, orchestration and automation, networks are quickly evolving to require less human involvement to deploy, operate and optimize. 5G will extend this paradigm across the cellular network with capabilities like network slicing. As these technologies advance, the machines that make up the network will be able to learn and take over more mundane tasks. This will result in improved uptime, reduced human capital costs and better end-user experiences.

5G is transformational. The ongoing national rollout of 5G cellular networks, as well as today’s Gigabit-Class LTE networks, will enable retailers to confidently implement innovative applications that have the potential to transform their business models and customer experiences, such as recommendation engines, sensor-embedded shelves and aisle robots for inventory management, pop-up stores anywhere, immersive kiosks and virtual changing rooms – as well as other personalized shopping experiences. Therefore, all companies – especially retailers – that are in the process of upgrading or planning to upgrade their enterprise WAN need to have a “Pathway to 5G” baked into the design and economics. 

“Over 75% of the world’s top retailers rely on Cradlepoint today to extend the reach and improve the reliability of their WAN at the store level and beyond,” explained Todd Krautkremer, CMO, Cradlepoint. “We are committed to enabling their digital and customer experience transformation journeys. Our NetCloud Service and wireless edge routers combine software-defined networking and new machine learning functionality to unlock the full potential of LTE and 5G cellular networks and help our retail customers evolve to a wireless WAN future, faster.”

Cloud- Star technology distribute the full range off Cradlepoint routers. Click here for more information>

Coast and DG Cities form autonomous collaboration

Coast and DG Cities form autonomous collaboration

The US self-driving technology company and UK urban innovation specialist will provide design and implementation services to help transform cities with connected and autonomous vehicles.

DG Cities and Coast are joining forces to help cities implement CAV technology

California-based self-driving technology firm Coast Autonomous and DG Cities, a smart city specialist and subsidiary of the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London, have signed a memorandum of understanding to provide consultancy services for the design and implementation of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV).

It marks the second US-UK collaboration in the smart city space this week with Los Angeles and London committing to join forces to tackle critical global transportation issues as Innovator Cities.

Integrated framework

DG Cities and Coast will work together on services related to the transportation of people and/or goods using autonomous vehicles (AVs) with the aim of helping cities build a more sustainable and liveable future. Their approach is based on four pillars of an integrated framework:

spatial planning and the strategic design of the built environmentdigital infrastructure and new technologiesnew mobility servicesfuture vehicles.

Trevor Dorling, managing director of the urban innovation company, DG Cities, which has played a key part in implementing smart city initiatives in the London Borough of Greenwich, said it shares the same vision for cities as Coast: "Which the global discussion on air pollution and climate change is making more critical than ever.

"Electric shared AVs create the opportunity for cities to reinvent their environments and make them more liveable. Reducing the number of cars in urban centres will deliver many benefits and opportunities: improving air quality, allowing roads to be replaced with landscaping and car parks to be repurposed.

"Electric shared AVs create the opportunity for cities to reinvent their environments and make them more liveable"

“Coast’s unique technology, practical approach and ambition present a real opportunity to accelerate the take-up of autonomous vehicles and deliver benefits for cities and their citizens. Technology itself is not enough, and our expertise in smart city integration and design, alongside Coast’s capabilities in self-driving vehicles for urban environments, means we can offer a full service to clients looking to achieve meaningful impact."

Coast’s mission is to connect people with mobility solutions that put pedestrians first and give cities back to people. Its AV software includes mapping and localisation, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), fleet management and supervision systems.

"We have been aware of DG Cities’ work in this area for some time. Their focus on cities and people aligns closely with our belief that autonomous vehicles must deliver real benefits for cities and their citizens," said Coast chief technology officer, Pierre Lefevre.

You might also like:

London and Los Angeles team to tackle critical transport challengesGreenwich’s smart city benchmarking toolkit for adaptability and resilienceLondon announces real-world testing for driverless cars

Source: Smart Cities World