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Cyber security is becoming increasingly critical in the car industry. Not only the entry points to the external world in the car need to be protected against potential attack, but also the on-board communication in the car require to be protected against attackers who may try to send unauthorized CAN messages. However, the current CAN network was not designed with security in mind. As a result, the extra measures have to be taken to address the key security properties of the secure CAN communication, including data integrity, authenticity, confidentiality and freshness. While integrity and authenticity can be achieved by using a relatively straightforward algorithms such as CMAC (Cipher-based Message Authentication Code) and Confidentiality can be handled by a symmetric encryption algorithm like AES128 (128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard), it has been recognized to be more challenging to achieve the freshness of CAN message.

Recent years have witnessed an increase in the number of electrical loads being driven by semiconductor devices in the body control module (or BCM) rather than by electro-mechanical relays in a typical truck with a 24V vehicle power net. This paper presents the major challenges caused by the higher voltage class of the truck supply and the longer wire harness cables, followed by an analysis of some key issues related to the design of truck BCMs to drive different loads. It offers some general guidance on practical design issues to BCM designers, such as an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of different BCM architectural topologies, how to make a choice between a relay or a semiconductor driver, knowledge of the requirements of semiconductors used in truck applications etc.