Search Results

This paper describes a system and a process to significantly decrease the downtime of commercial vehicles that are immobilized for the purpose of Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) in the workshop. The process is based on a data acquisition system that is installed in the vehicles and collects data from a fleet under real driving conditions. The collected data is sent to the cloud and merged with other data sources, such as diagnostic data requested from the vehicles in the workshop, history data, test drive data, and so on. The target-oriented analysis of selected data items results in predictive maintenance sequences. The sequences are described in OTX [1] and downloaded to the workshop tester that processes OTX sequences. In combination with Qtr.-based GUIs, the service technician is guided thru the maintenance process. If required, an external technical expert can access the vehicle remotely and support the local service technician to do his job right the first time.

The increasing complexity of microcontroller-based automotive E/E systems that control road-vehicles and non-road mobile machinery comes with increased self-diagnosis functions and diagnosability via external test equipment (diagnostic tester). Technicians in the development, production and service depend on diagnostic test equipment that is connected to the E/E system and performs diagnostic communication. Examples of use cases of diagnostic communication include but are not limited to condition monitoring, data acquisition, (guided) fault finding and flash programming. More and more functions of a modern vehicle are realized by software (firmware). Powerful multicore servers replace the numerous control units and many control unit functions can be performed directly by smart sensors and actuators. New E/E system architectures come with increased self-diagnostic capabilities.

In the near future, vehicles will operate autonomously and communicate with their environment. This communication includes Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication, and comunication with cloud-based servers (V2C). To improve the resilience of remote diagnostic communication between a vehicle and external test equipment against cyberattacks, it is imperative to understand and analyze the functionality and vulnerability of each communication system component, including the wired and wireless communication channels. This paper serves as a continuation of the SAE Journal publication on measures to prevent unauthorized access to the in-vehicle E/E system [9], explains the components of a cyber-physical system (CPS) for remote diagnostic communication, analyzes their vulnerability against cyberattacks and explains measures to improve the resiliance.

Remote diagnostic systems support diagnostic communication by having the capability of sending diagnostic request services to a vehicle and receiving diagnostic response services from a vehicle. These diagnostic services are specified in diagnostic protocols, such as SAE J1979, SAE J1939 or ISO 14229 (UDS). For the purpose of diagnostic communication, the tester needs access to the electronic control units as communication partners. Physically, the diagnostic tester gets access to the entire vehicle´s E/E system, which consists of connectors, wiring, the in-vehicle network (e.g. CAN), the electronic control units, sensors, and actuators. Any connection of external test equipment and the E/E system of a vehicle poses a security vulnerability. The combination can be used for malicious intrusion and manipulation.

Remote diagnostic systems support diagnostic communication by having the capability of sending diagnostic request services to a vehicle and receiving diagnostic response services from a vehicle. These diagnostic services are specified in diagnostic protocols, such as SAE J1979, SAE J1939 or ISO 14229 (UDS). For the purpose of diagnostic communication, the tester needs access to the electronic control units as communication partners. Physically, the diagnostic tester gets access to the entire vehicle´s E/E system, which consists of connectors, wiring, the in-vehicle network (e.g. CAN), the electronic control units, sensors, and actuators. Any connection of external test equipment and the E/E system of a vehicle poses a security vulnerability. The combination can be used for malicious intrusion and manipulation.

Passenger cars are equipped with an OBD connector according to SAE J1962 / ISO 15031-3. Passenger cars that support ISO UDS on DoIP use the same connector with Ethernet pins according to ISO/DIS 13400-4 (Ethernet diagnostic connector). If external test equipment is connected to the Ethernet diagnostic connector via a 100BASE-TX cable with the RJ45 connector at the tester, a VCI is not necessary anymore. With a device that fits the Ethernet diagnostic connector physically and acts as a converter between the Ethernet signals and WLAN, external test equipment that supports wireless communication, can be connected to the vehicle. Examples for such wireless external test equipment include Android/iOS- based smart phones and tablets with purpose-made applications (APPs). The software components of external test equipment are standardized in ISO 22900 (MVCI). The MVCI D-Server processes data in ODX (ISO 22901) and sequences in OTX (ISO 13209).