Exploring Safety and Security Accident-Management Policies for CAVs

The adoption of self-driving Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAV) in combination with advanced vehicle technology (AVT) has been actively pursued to enhance road traffic safety and decrease the occurrence of accidents. However, despite these concerted efforts, collisions have not been eliminated. Despite in-depth exploration into the management of Accident-Management (AM-) Policies, it is evident that this exploration in isolation may not be adequate to guarantee the secure management of traffic. This inadequacy originates from the absence of a robust mechanism for enforcement. To overcome these shortcomings, this project introduces a distributed, multi-user, multi-vehicle framework for the specification, evaluation, and enforcement of AM-Policies in the context of CAVs. To this end, this project will explore user needs from the viewpoints of passengers and bystanders and define potential AM-Policies based on varying case scenarios including CAV configurations, incidents, accidents, etc. Also, the research team introduces a theoretical model for AM-Policies leveraging Attribute-based Access Control (ABAC) for policy specification, analysis, and conflict resolution. Second, the team leverage blockchain technology to establish a decentralized framework for policy management that does not necessitate dependence on a single entity within the system, utilizing smart contracts to efficiently implement autonomous and binding agreements modeling the proposed AM-Policies. Third, the team proposes a multi-modal deep model for informative and accurate decision-making, such that different types of sensor signals and visual inputs, which are needed for successfully evaluating and enforcing AM-Policies, can be effectively incorporated.

  • Record URL:
  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This material is based on work supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation, OST-R, University Transportation Center Program, the USDOT Tier 1 UTC Transportation Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Research and Education (CYBER-CARE).

Language

  • English

Project

  • Status: Active
  • Funding: $100,000.00
  • Contract Numbers:

    69A3552348332

  • Sponsor Organizations:

    Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

    University Transportation Centers Program
    Department of Transportation
    Washington, DC  United States  20590
  • Managing Organizations:

    Transportation Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Research and Education (CYBER-CARE)

    University of Houston
    Houston, TX  United States 
  • Project Managers:

    Zhang, Yunpeng

    Kline, Robin

  • Performing Organizations:

    Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

    6300 Ocean Dr.
    Corpus Christi, Texas  United States  78412
  • Principal Investigators:

    Rubio-Medrano, Carlos E

  • Start Date: 20231001
  • Expected Completion Date: 20260630
  • Actual Completion Date: 0
  • USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01953954
  • Record Type: Research project
  • Source Agency: Transportation Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Research and Education (CYBER-CARE)
  • Contract Numbers: 69A3552348332
  • Files: UTC, RIP, STATEDOT
  • Created Date: Apr 30 2025 3:58PM