Autonomous Vehicles Forensics-The next step of the Digital Vehicles Forensics

Abstract

The application of autonomous vehicles is wide: they are used in industry, logistics, transport, user, etc. The use of self-driving vehicles will have a direct impact on road accidents and violations of rules, therefore it is inevitable to determine liability in case of an accident, and it automatically requires available data on vehicles and infrastructure elements, data extraction tools and methodology. The purpose of vehicle-related forensic investigations is to determine what, when, where, under what circumstances occurred and who was involved, whether liability related to the incident can be determined. These standard practices cannot be applied in case of the autonomous vehicles, due to their specific operation. In order to be able to conduct the investigations and continuously develop the system, a timely collection of evidences may be essential. As technology advances and the range of tools grows, the efficiency of existing forensics solutions needs to be examined. Forensics test methods related to autonomous and cooperative transport systems can be derived from the forensic test methodology and its “digital forensic” branch. On the other hand, they can include completely new elements due to the specialties of the field requiring different preparedness and tools (e.g., engine control electronics vulnerabilities, car manufacturer-specific data storage solutions, custom operating systems). The research in this study summarizes the past and current forensics solutions, examining their applicability to autonomous vehicles.