Securing Cooperative Vehicular Platooning with a Set of Reinforced Checks

Platooning enhances road safety and alleviates traffic congestion by enabling vehicles to travel closely together and maneuver in a coordinated manner. This coordination is facilitated by vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, which, unfortunately, also expose the platoon to potential cyberattack risks. In this paper, we present a novel platoon joining protocol, with a particular emphasis on the enrollment phase. We demonstrate that an attacker can disrupt the platoon's formation or stability by falsely joining, without actually maneuvering into the platoon. To mitigate this risk, we propose robust physical challenges and data-consistency countermeasures that reinforce both the stability and integrity of the platoon. Simulations using Plexe validate the security of the designed protocol, as verified and confirmed thorough security checks.