A Novel Lightweight Authentication Protocol for Emergency Vehicle Avoidance in VANETs

The delay of vehicle emergency has led to many serious consequences. A series of studies has been carried out in the field of information security in vehicular <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ad hoc</i> networks (VANETs). However, open issues such as the authentication of emergency vehicle (EV) avoidance are remaining unsolved. In this article, we propose a novel lightweight authentication protocol to avoid EVs in VANETs. In our protocol, after completing the first mutual authentication with the nearest roadside unit (RSU), EV can complete the mutual identity authentication with the subsequent RSUs without repeating cumbersome calculations. Additionally, EV is required to verify the legitimacy of the driver’s identity when starting to avoid some illegal driving behavior. The RSUs will broadcast avoidance information to ordinary vehicles in their jurisdiction to remind them to clear a temporary emergency lane for EVs in advance. With temporary emergency lanes, emergent mission delays due to traffic congestion could be reduced. The security analysis and efficient analysis prove that our protocol is practical and efficient against attacks, such as impersonation attacks, device theft attacks, reputation attacks, etc.