Introduction to the Special Issue on Automotive CPS Safety & Security: Part 1

Abstract

One might argue that automotive and allied domains like robotics serve as the best possible examples of what “cyber-physical systems” (CPS) are. Here, the correctness of the underlying electronics and software (or cyber) components are defined by the dynamics of the vehicle or the robot, viz., the physical components of the system. This shift in perspective on how electronics and software should be modeled and synthesized, and how their correctness should be defined, has led to a tremendous volume of research on CPS in recent times [7, 8, 43, 56]. At the same time, the volume of electronics and software in modern cars has also grown tremendously. Today, high-end cars have more than 100 control computers or electronic control units (ECUs) embedded in them, that run hundreds of millions of lines of software code implementing a range of diverse functions. These functions span across engine and brake control, to the body and entertainment domains. Cars are also equipped with a variety of cameras, radars, and lidar sensors that are used to perceive the external world and take the appropriate control actions as a part of driver assistance features that are common today. As such features continue to accelerate the evolution and adoption of fully autonomous vehicles, the role of electronics and software in the automotive domain is increasing at an unprecedented pace, and modern automobiles are now aptly referred