96 Engineering Partner Software-Updates “over-the-air” – and its Consequences By Dr. Roman Cunis, Senior Consultant / Senior Systems Engineer ServiceXpert, Hamburg Brave new world? Today it appears to be easy and natural for an app provider to distribute new and extended software versions to customer devices – computers and smartphones – in an “over-the-air” manner. They are thus able to provide improved and more comprehensive services to their customers – and to sell them. We are currently in an age of vehicles with a high degree of software being increasingly and permanently connected to the world’s networks. Vehicle manufacturers as well as providers of vehicle-related software and data services want to profit from these capabilities – in every sense of the word “profit”. If we believe in the promises made in advertisements, even the vehicle customers are looking forward to the day when they can “amplify” the acceleration capacity of their truck at a steep hill, or the cooling effect of their air conditioning on a hot day – “right away” and without a visit to the next repair workshop. This is a dream of comfort for some, and a dream of profit for some others, but it also proves to become a nightmare for other groups involved. Licensing authorities are afraid that a vehicle homologated and sold as tax and energy saving, may be transformed into an energy hungry “monster” just per software update. Manufacturers are afraid that uncontrolled upload of software changes from the outside – that is from everybody other than themselves – might change a vehicle’s behaviour in such a way that it causes damage to humans and material alike: damage for which the manufacturer will become liable. More than once in recent years, experiments have shown that it is possible to take over control of a vehicle’s electronic system via open and “overthe-air” reachable communication interfaces. Already, in the year 2015, the successful hijacking of a Jeep by means of computer interaction made headlines all over the world. UNECE Regulations No. 155 and No. 156 The UNECE – in its capacity as regulation office for vehicles and vehicle parts all over Europe – created a regulatory package based on Regulations No. 155 and No. 156 to address these risks and considerations. Regulation No. 155 is about requirements to cyber security in vehicles. It mandates that every communication with a vehicle – be it “over-the-air” or conventionally via cable and diagnostic plug – has to be secured against manipulation. Future communication must always be encrypted, and access will only be granted if valid certificates are presented that have been authorized by the vehicle manufacturer and that are validated inside the vehicle itself. Regulation No. 156 is about requirements toward software update management on the manufacturer’s side. It mandates that only approved software may be used within a vehicle. In this context, the term “software” is also comprising every set of parameters influencing the vehicle behaviour. The UNECE has realized that the homologation of a vehicle type can no longer be dependent on the physical properties of a vehicle alone. Instead, the software versions inside the vehicle’s control units have also to be taken into account. Every software and every software version that contributes to a regulated vehicle function must be homologated Image: © ServiceXpert
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