Cybersecurity-Oriented Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Communication Architectures for Autonomous Transportation Systems: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Autonomous Transportation Systems (ATS) rely heavily on Vehicle-to Everything (V2X) communication architectures to enable cooperative perception, dynamic route planning, platooning, and collision avoidance. However, the hyper-connected, low-latency nature of V2X networks creates an expansive cyber-attack surface. Security breaches—ranging from Sybil attacks, False Data Injection (FDI), and Denial-of-Service (DoS) to GPS spoofing and hardware-level tampering—pose severe threats to physical safety, operational resilience, and passenger privacy. This review paper presents a comprehensive synthesis of cybersecurity-oriented V2X  communication architectures for connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs). We systematically examine cellular V2X (C-V2X) and Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) protocols, evaluate state-of-the-art cryptographic Trust Management Frameworks (TMFs), and analyze zero-trust edge-cloud security paradigms. Furthermore, we investigate AI/ML-driven Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), hardware security modules (HSMs), and physical layer security (PLS) mechanisms. By establishing a comparative benchmark across existing architectural paradigms, this paper highlights critical vulnerabilities, trade-offs between latency and cryptographic overhead, and emerging quantum-resistant defense strategies. Finally, key research gaps, standardization bottlenecks, and actionable future directions are delineated to guide industrial deployment and next-generation secure intelligent transportation ecosystems.

KEYWORDS: Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X); Cybersecurity; Autonomous Transportation Systems; Trust Management; Intrusion Detection Systems; Cellular V2X (C-V2X); Zero Trust Architecture; Public Key Infrastructure.