Compositional Modeling and Attack Analysis of End-to-end Autonomous Vehicles

The architecture of autonomous driving systems is shifting from modular pipelines to end-to-end systems powered by advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Vision-Language Models (VLMs). This project develops a comprehensive framework for the compositional modeling, security analysis, and resilience testing of these next-generation systems. The research team will create formal models to abstract the behavior of AI components and build an AI-powered vulnerability analysis engine to identify semantic attacks. The project culminates in a high-fidelity, open-source software testbed that integrates these models to simulate attacks and evaluate the resilience of autonomous vehicles and drones.

• Record URL:
  • https://www.clemson.edu/cecas/tracr/research/projects/#compositionalmodelingandattackanalysisofendtoendautonomousvehicles

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $218,123.00
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3552344812

  69A3552348317

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Purdue University

  1040 South River Road
  West Lafayette, IN  United States  47907

  University of California, Santa Cruz

  1156 High Street, Mail Stop SOE2
  Santa Cruz, California  United Kingdom  95064
• Managing Organizations:

  National Center for Transportation Cybersecurity and Resiliency (TraCR)

  Clemson University
  Clemson, SC  United States 

  Purdue University

  1040 South River Road
  West Lafayette, IN  United States  47907
• Project Managers:

  Chowdhury, Mashrur

• Performing Organizations:

  Purdue University

  1040 South River Road
  West Lafayette, IN  United States  47907

  University of California, Santa Cruz

  1156 High Street, Mail Stop SOE2
  Santa Cruz, California  United Kingdom  95064
• Principal Investigators:

  Celik, Berkay

  Cardenas, Alvaro

  Xie, Cihang

  Gilpin , Leilani

  Ukkusuri, Satish

• Start Date: 20260401
• Expected Completion Date: 20270331
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Artificial intelligence; Autonomous vehicles; Computer security; Cyberattacks; Drones; Risk assessment; Simulation; Vehicle safety
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Data and Information Technology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01988091
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Transportation Cybersecurity and Resiliency (TraCR)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3552344812, 69A3552348317
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Apr 28 2026 3:45PM