Tao Zhang received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA. He is Chief Scientist in the area of automotive networking and applications at Applied Research of Telcordia Technologies, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA. He is directing the R&D program to design a privacy-preserving security system for the US Department of Transportation’s Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) initiative, which develops technologies for a national scale automotive networking and applications system. Before joining Telcordia (then Bellcore) in 1995, Dr. Zhang worked at Citibank, Lehman Brothers, and Dow Jones/Telerate, where he led strategic planning, design, implementation, and deployment of software systems and networks for global real-time financial data collection, integration, processing, and distribution. Dr. Zhang co-authored the book “IP-Based Next Generation Wireless Networks” published by John Wiley & Sons in 2004. He holds 14 patents. He serves as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technologies (TVT), and on the editorial board of the Journal of Wireless Networks. He received the 2000 Telcordia CEO Award for most exceptional teams and individuals who have achieved a significant business success.

Dr. Zhang will discuss END-TO-END SECURE COMMUNICATIONS FOR VEHICULAR NETWORKS. Security is a prerequisite for most vehicular networking applications. However, secure communications alone is not sufficient in vehicular networks – the privacy of vehicles and their drivers also need to be protected. As vehicles communicate with each other and with the network infrastructure, their communications could be used to intrude on drivers’ privacy. Such privacy concerns are believed by the automakers as a major roadblock to wide adoption of vehicular networking applications. How to secure vehicular communications while provide a balance for driver privacy is therefore a key issue. Leveraging the experience we have gained from designing a privacy-preserving security system for the US DOT’s Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) initiative, I will discuss the security and privacy challenges in a vehicular networking environment and describe selected solutions and remaining critical technical issues.