Design of a secure communication and handoff protocol for VANETs

Vehicular communications have become an increasingly important communication technique worldwide. The current limitations of vehicular communications are not determined by capability or authentication but by security infrastructure. In 2005, a proposal for vehicular network security was discussed by Raya and Hubaux. However, such protocol is not practical and is unsafe for use in VANETs. In addition, handoff has become a relevant issue for vehicles moving from one region to another. For these reasons, we propose a secure communication and handoff protocol. In our protocol, a vehicle can enjoy seamless service between heterogeneous vehicular networks. Furthermore, vehicular communication is made more secure and ubiquitous.