Autonomous Vehicles, Opportunities, Threats and Challenges

Autonomous vehicles are no longer technology to be aware of on the periphery; they have arrived. The use of consumer grade drones as weapons of destruction and invaluable reconnaissance in Ukraine and Gaza serves as a warning that such systems are effective and can be put to any number of creative uses. While many of the headlines are negative, autonomous cars demonstrate just how far those systems have come.

There are many opportunities for corporate security to use autonomous vehicles to enhance their security posture. Of course, the technology also presents new threats, which present a new set of risks organizations must consider.

In this extensive research project, researchers Ishmael Bhila and Peter Lee from the University of Portsmouth and Alison Wakefield from the University of West London, guide readers to a greater understanding of autonomous vehicles, including those that operate in the air, on land, on the water, and underwater. They examine how they have been used, what potential they have, and how they have evolved. They discuss how artificial intelligence is affecting their capability, and they discuss both what regulations currently exist around the world and what direction future regulations may take.