Phantom images trick autonomous cars into braking

In a new research paper, Phantom of the ADAS, published on IACR.org, the researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's (BGU) Cyber Security Research Centre demonstrated that autopilots and advanced driving-assistance systems (ADASs) in semi-autonomous or fully autonomous cars register depthless projections of objects (phantoms) as real objects. They show how attackers can exploit this to manipulate the vehicle and potentially harm the driver or passengers without any special expertise by using a commercial drone and inexpensive image projector.

According to BGU, fully and semi-autonomous cars are being deployed globally but vehicular communication systems that connect the car with other cars, pedestrians and surrounding infrastructure are lagging. The researchers said the lack of such systems creates a "validation gap," which prevents the autonomous vehicles from validating their virtual perception with a third party, relying only on internal sensors.