A Novel Hybrid Attack Model and A Quantum-Infused Hybrid Defense Method for Resilient Perception of Autonomous Vehicles

This project strengthens the cybersecurity and resiliency of camera-based perception for autonomous vehicles by addressing two fast-growing attack classes: universal adversarial perturbations (UAPs) and generative/deepfake-style scene manipulations that can add, alter, or remove objects in the camera feed. The team will first build and validate a novel hybrid attack that combines image-agnostic UAP noise with generative object-disappearance attacks (ODAs) using real-time inpainting to create “hallucination” driving scenes where objects are misclassified or vanish entirely. The project will also develop a quantum-enhanced hybrid defense that fuses parameterized quantum circuits with classical deepfake/manipulation detection, leveraging quantum–classical disagreement and out-of-distribution signals to robustly detect both pixel-level perturbations and semantic object edits. The project will produce deployable prototypes: (1) a real-time hybrid “malware” attack pipeline and (2) a quantum-infused hybrid detector, which will be evaluated in realistic AV scenarios and deployed for testing on connected-vehicle testbeds (e.g., Clemson University Connected Vehicle Testbed or CU-CVT and Morgan State).

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

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $170,083.00
• 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

  Clemson University

  216 Lowry Hall
  Clemson, SC, SC  United States  29634

  South Carolina State University

  300 College Street NE
  Orangeburg, South Carolina  United States  29117
• Managing Organizations:

  National Center for Transportation Cybersecurity and Resiliency (TraCR)

  Clemson University
  Clemson, SC  United States 

  Clemson University

  216 Lowry Hall
  Clemson, SC, SC  United States  29634
• Project Managers:

  Chowdhury, Mashrur

• Performing Organizations:

  Clemson University

  216 Lowry Hall
  Clemson, SC, SC  United States  29634

  South Carolina State University

  300 College Street NE
  Orangeburg, South Carolina  United States  29117
• Principal Investigators:

  Ge, Rong

  Salek, Sabbir

  Sahoo, Jagruti

• 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; Connected vehicles; Cyberattacks; Machine learning; System architecture; Vehicle safety
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Security and Emergencies; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01988515
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Transportation Cybersecurity and Resiliency (TraCR)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3552344812, 69A3552348317
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Apr 30 2026 12:17PM