Witness-based evidence generation in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks

Abstract

Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) are a novel communication scenario. They allow vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. New services are envisioned through these networks affecting road traffic safety. Current proposals are based on sharing each vehicle´s perceptions about their own environment. Nevertheless, it is also possible for a vehicle to know the status of their neighbours in a given moment. Thus, a vehicle can obtain from their neighbours their perceptions about its status. Neighbours then become witnesses. Sometimes it is necessary to prove a vehicle´s behavior in a given moment (e.g. accident dispute, speeding fines, etc.). As own sensors can be tampered with, having testimonies from witnesses can contribute to have a reliable source of information. In this work a protocol to obtain such testimonies and generate digital evidences is proposed. A security analysis is performed to verify the accomplishment of evidence generation requirements.