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In the next 20 years fully autonomous vehicles are expected to be in the market. The advance on their development is creating paradigm shifts on different automotive related research areas. Vehicle interiors design and human vehicle interaction are evolving to enable interaction flexibility inside the cars. However, most of today’s vehicle manufacturers’ autonomous car concepts maintain the steering wheel as a control element. While this approach allows the driver to take over the vehicle route if needed, it causes a constraint in the previously mentioned interaction flexibility. Other approaches, such as the one proposed by Google, enable interaction flexibility by removing the steering wheel and accelerator and brake pedals. However, this prevents the users to take control over the vehicle route if needed, not allowing them to make on-route spontaneous decisions, such as stopping at a specific point of interest.

Quantum computing is considered the “next big thing” when it comes to solving computational problems impossible to tackle using conventional computers. However, a major concern is that quantum computers could be used to crack current cryptographic schemes designed to withstand traditional cyberattacks. This threat also impacts future automated vehicles as they become embedded in a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) ecosystem. In this scenario, encrypted data is transmitted between a complex network of cloud-based data servers, vehicle-based data servers, and vehicle sensors and controllers. While the vehicle hardware ages, the software enabling V2X interactions will be updated multiple times. It is essential to make the V2X ecosystem quantum-safe through use of “post-quantum cryptography” as well other applicable quantum technologies.