AV Onboarding Light Flashing Pattern for Secure Marshalling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for identifying and onboarding autonomous vehicles (AVs) lack sufficient uniqueness and security, leading to potential interference, delays, and incorrect marshalling in various operational scenarios.
Innovation Solution
A system and method utilizing a shared virtual secret key between the AV and a central server to generate a unique light code pattern, enabling secure and accurate identification through a blinking challenge, ensuring correct AV onboarding and marshalling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional identification methods are used for autonomous vehicles, then the system is simpler to implement, but the identification security and uniqueness are insufficient leading to potential interference and incorrect marshalling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses light code patterns with different colors and flashing sequences to encode unique identification information for each autonomous vehicle. The lighting devices emit visible light in specific patterns that can be detected and decoded by the infrastructure server, providing secure and unique identification without requiring complex hardware modifications to the vehicles.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs periodic flashing sequences of lights to transmit identification information. The light code patterns use different flashing frequencies, durations, and sequences to encode unique vehicle identifiers. This periodic action allows the system to transmit complex identification data through simple on/off light patterns that can be reliably detected and differentiated.
2Measurement precision
If a secure-unique light flashing pattern is implemented for AV identification, then identification security and accuracy are improved, but the system complexity and implementation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical or electronic identification systems with an optical communication system using light flashing patterns. Instead of using radio frequencies, sensors, or complex authentication hardware, the system uses simple visible light flashes that can be detected by cameras or photodetectors, significantly simplifying the overall system while maintaining high identification accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses light code patterns as a visual copy or representation of the vehicle's unique identification data. Rather than directly transmitting digital identifiers through communication protocols, the system encodes the identification information into light flashing patterns that serve as a visual copy, which can then be detected and verified by the infrastructure server with high precision.
3Reliability
If public key infrastructure is used for secure communication between AV and server, then authentication security is improved, but the communication overhead and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs key exchange and authentication procedures during the vehicle onboarding process before the vehicle enters service. The public key infrastructure is set up in advance, and the light code patterns are pre-configured with authentication credentials. This preliminary action ensures that when the vehicle needs to communicate with the infrastructure server, the secure authentication is already in place, minimizing real-time communication overhead and processing delays.
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes a vehicle system provided with an autonomous vehicle. The vehicle system includes one or more computing devices configured to define a shared virtual secret key with an infrastructure server using a server public key obtained from the infrastructure server, generate a light code pattern to identify the autonomous vehicle using the shared virtual secret key and a code length, transmit a vehicle public key and blinking characteristics of the light code pattern, control one or more selected lighting devices of the autonomous vehicle to perform a flashing sequence indicative of the light code pattern, and transition to a marshalling operation state to have the autonomous vehicle be controlled by the infrastructure server in response to the autonomous vehicle being identified based on the flashing sequence.