Imagine living in the future, in a world comprised of smart cities, fully autonomous vehicles and transportation systems and robots performing surgery. Of course, the technologies have all been “tried and tested,” but will you completely trust your life in their “hands”?
NXP recently completed a successful research project focused on developing cybersecurity elements and secure technology architectures for autonomous automobiles, rail and healthcare systems to increase end-user trust in autonomous technologies.
While innovation continues to produce new and improved technologies that anticipate and automate the operation of devices and systems, their widespread adoption (and the realization of promised benefits) depends not only on technical capabilities, but also on users being informed and confident that they can trust them. This is especially true in cases where automated decisions are of great consequence, such as the control of cars, e-vehicles and trains—or in the analysis and delivery of medical interventions.
Learn more about NXP’s work to ensure that every journey is safe, secure and enjoyable in Advanced Driving Automated Solutions.
This is precisely the topic that NXP experts from the Netherlands, Germany and the UK have successfully addressed in a collaborative consortium with 69 other partners from industry, universities and research institutions. The goal of the multi-year collaborative project was to develop methods, reference architectures and components for autonomous systems that enable the highest level of security and privacy protection while maintaining functional safety and operational performance.
Put simply, the Product Security for Cross Domain Reliable Dependable Automated Systems (“SECREDAS”) project focused on creating conceptual designs for cybersecurity and secure technology for connected and automated vehicles that would also apply to automated systems in rail transportation and health diagnostics, analytics and communications.
Patrick Pype, director of strategic partnerships at NXP in the Netherlands, coordinated the project, which drew on our expertise in in-vehicle-networking, automotive high-end processors, V2X and security issues to analyze security vulnerabilities in the automotive industry and define requirements for a secure reference architecture on that basis. In addition, NXP provided the hardware and software basis for running different application scenarios or use cases for the project teams.
“SECREDAS brought together enough critical mass in Europe to be a gamechanger in safety, security and privacy protection for a future world of autonomously operating systems,’’ says Pype. ‘’Thanks to the funding of the European Commission, the large number of member states and incredible drive of the partners we can consider SECREDAS one of the most successful cooperative projects with a pan-European implication.’’
NXP’s Public Cooperation Programs (PCP) team coordinates publicly funded innovation and research collaborations with academic, government, non-profit and corporate partners. NXP’s PCP team handles all operational, financial and legal matters, allowing technical engineers to focus on research and development.
The SECREDAS project was funded under the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (JU) program under grant agreement No. 783119. The JU is supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and by several national authorities.
This article reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Marcus Borrmann, a Public Funding Cooperative Projects Expert, plays an integral role managing NXP’s Public Cooperative Projects. Prior to joining NXP, he was a project leader and researcher in the field of Public Health and Health Studies with a special focus on assistive technologies. He holds a Masters Degree in Public Health from Medical University Vienna.
