"Industry Sets Cyber Standards for Cars and Trucks and Things That Go (Unmanned)"
A trade association representing manufacturers of unmanned drones, cars, airplanes, boats, and other vehicles is collaborating with a cybersecurity firm to create voluntary security standards for the autonomous vehicles market. The Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and Fortress Security announced the formation of a working group to develop standards over the next year. Tobias Whitney, vice president of strategy and policy at Fortress Security, and Michael Robbins, executive vice president of government and public affairs at AUVSI, said in an interview that the framework would be built around five broad use cases. These use cases include scoping internal controls and effective cyber hygiene for autonomous vehicle suppliers; mapping product security to transparency and security standards, such as software and hardware bills of materials; implementing effective encryption and authentication tools for remote operations and connectivity; investigating third- and fourth-party suppliers in the supply chain; and drawing clearer lines between technologies with military and commercial applications. Whitney stated that the working group will be geared toward companies that work in the autonomous vehicle industry, as well as those that understand their markets, their customers, but also security, so that they can understand the implications of a security exploit that impacts the operations of their technology. He also stated that the framework is an attempt by the industry to band together around voluntary standards before governments decide to regulate, with Whitney saying that it is being done to get ahead of something that might be mandated. He cited industries such as the electric, oil, and gas industries for not being proactive enough in developing their own cybersecurity rules, only to have the government do so when high-profile incidents created public pressure for regulation. With many Americans concerned about the safety and reliability of self-driving cars and other vehicles, a similar incident in the autonomous vehicle space could expose suppliers to harsher regulations. As concerns about the safety and reliability of self-driving cars and other vehicles grow, a similar incident in the autonomous vehicle space could expose suppliers to harsher regulations. This article continues to discuss the new collaborative effort to develop voluntary security standards for the autonomous vehicles market.