Secure start system for an autonomous vehicle

• US 10,089,116 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2016
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uatc, LLC (Uber Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Valasek, Christopher, Miller, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Rahim, Monjour
• Application Number:
  US15/074,892
• Publication Number:
  US 20170269940A1
• Time in Patent Office: 928 Days
• Field of Search: 713182
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/04 operating on the propulsion system, e.g. engine or drive motor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/575 Secure boot
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/73 by creating or determining hardware identification, e.g. serial numbers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2105 Dual mode as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4403 Processor initialisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4406 Loading of operating system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/84 Vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/06 for supporting key management in a packet data network cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management H04L9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/062 for key distribution, e.g. centrally by trusted party cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving a central third party H04L9/0819
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/164 at the network layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0822 using key encryption key
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0897 : involving additional devices, e.g. trusted platform module [TPM], smartcard or USB
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/14 : using a plurality of keys or algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 : using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 : Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 : Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 : Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication

Abstract

A secure start system for an autonomous vehicle (AV) can include a compute stack and a communications router. The communications router can include an encrypted router drive and an input interface to receive a boot-loader that includes a basic decryption key to decrypt the encrypted router drive and enable network communications with a backend system. The secure start system can utilizes a tunnel key from the backend system to establish a private communications session with a backend data vault, and retrieve a set of decryption keys from the backend data vault, via the private communications session, to decrypt a plurality of encrypted drives of the AV.

Claims

1. A secure start system for an autonomous vehicle, the secure start system comprising:

a compute stack comprising a plurality of encrypted drives that, when decrypted, enable one or more functions of the autonomous vehicle; and

a communications router connected to the compute stack, the communications router comprising;

an encrypted router drive; and

an input interface to receive a boot-loader comprising a basic decryption key to (i) decrypt the encrypted router drive, and (ii) enable network communications with a backend system;

wherein the secure start system (i) utilizes a tunnel key from the backend system to establish a private communications session with a backend data vault, and (ii) retrieves a set of decryption keys from the backend data vault, via the private communications session, to decrypt the plurality of encrypted drives.

2. The secure start system of claim 1, wherein the input interface comprises a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and wherein the boot-loader comprises a USB connected boot-up drive including the basic decryption key.

3. The secure start system of claim 1, wherein upon enabling network communications, the communications router transmits credentials from the boot-loader to the backend system, and wherein the communications router receives the tunnel key when the backend system authenticates the credentials.

4. The secure start system of claim 3, wherein the communications router transmits the credentials and receives the tunnel key using secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) communications with the backend system.

5. The secure start system of claim 1, wherein the tunnel key comprises an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel key, and wherein the private communications session comprises an IPsec tunnel to the backend data vault to retrieve the set of decryption keys.

6. The secure start system of claim 1, wherein decryption of the plurality of encrypted drives using the set of decryption keys enables autonomous drive functions for the autonomous vehicle.

7. The secure start system of claim 1, wherein the compute stack comprises encrypted data logs to store session data corresponding to a drive session of the autonomous vehicle.

8. The secure start system of claim 7, wherein the data logs are accessible via insertion of a log reader into the input interface, and wherein the log reader includes a decryption key that decrypts the data logs to retrieve the session data.

9. An autonomous vehicle comprising:

a sensor system to dynamically generate sensor data indicating a situational environment of the autonomous vehicle;

acceleration, braking, and steering systems;

a compute stack comprising a plurality of encrypted drives that, when decrypted, (i) processes the sensor data to identify features when the autonomous vehicle operates in an autonomous drive mode, and (ii) utilizes the processed sensor data to operate the acceleration, braking, and steering systems in the autonomous drive mode; and

a secure start system connected to the compute stack, the secure start system comprising;

a communications router including an encrypted router drive; and

an input interface to receive a boot-loader comprising a basic decryption key to (i) decrypt the encrypted router drive, and (ii) enable network communications with a backend system;

wherein the secure start system (i) utilizes a tunnel key from the backend system to establish a private communications session with a backend data vault, and (ii) retrieves a set of decryption keys from the backend data vault, via the private communications session, to decrypt the plurality of encrypted drives.

10. The autonomous vehicle of claim 9, wherein the input interface comprises a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and wherein the boot-loader comprises a USB connected boot-up drive including the basic decryption key.

11. The autonomous vehicle of claim 9, wherein upon enabling network communications, the communications router transmits credentials from the boot-loader to the backend system, and wherein the communications router receives the tunnel key when the backend system authenticates the credentials.

12. The autonomous vehicle of claim 11, wherein the communications router transmits the credentials and receives the tunnel key using secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) communications with the backend system.

13. The autonomous vehicle of claim 9, wherein the tunnel key comprises an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel key, and wherein the private communications session comprises an IPsec tunnel to the backend data vault to retrieve the set of decryption keys.

14. The autonomous vehicle of claim 9, wherein decryption of the plurality of encrypted drives using the set of decryption keys enables autonomous drive functions for the autonomous vehicle.

15. The autonomous vehicle of claim 9, wherein the compute stack comprises encrypted data logs to store session data corresponding to a drive session of the autonomous vehicle.

16. The autonomous vehicle of claim 15, wherein the data logs are accessible via insertion of a log reader into the input interface, and wherein the log reader includes a decryption key that decrypts the data logs to retrieve the session data.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a secure start system for an autonomous vehicle, cause the one or more processors to:

retrieve a basic decryption key from a boot-loader to (i) decrypt a router drive, and (ii) enable network communications with a backend system;

transmit credentials to the backend system;

when the credentials are authenticated, receive a tunnel key from the backend system;

utilize the tunnel key to establish a private communications session with a backend data vault; and

retrieve a set of decryption keys from the backend data vault, via the private communications session, to (i) decrypt a plurality of encrypted drives of the autonomous vehicle, and (ii) initiate an autonomous mode of the autonomous vehicle.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the executed instructions cause the one or more processors to transmit the credentials and receive the tunnel key using secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) communications with the backend system.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the tunnel key comprises an Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) tunnel key, and wherein the private communications session comprises an IPsec tunnel to the backend data vault to retrieve the set of decryption keys.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the executed instructions cause the one or more processors to retrieve the basic decryption key in response to the boot-loader being inserted into a universal serial bus (USB) interface of the router drive.