Secure and Privacy-Preserving Smartphone-Based Traffic Information Systems

Increasing smartphone penetration, combined with the wide coverage of cellular infrastructures, renders smartphone-based traffic information systems (TISs) an attractive option. The main purpose of such systems is to alleviate traffic congestion that exists in every major city. Nevertheless, to reap the benefits of smartphone-based TISs, we need to ensure their security and privacy and their effectiveness (e.g., accuracy). This is the motivation of this paper: We leverage state-of-the-art cryptographic schemes and readily available telecommunication infrastructure. We present a comprehensive solution for smartphone-based traffic estimation that is proven to be secure and privacy preserving. We provide a full-blown implementation on actual smartphones, along with an extensive assessment of its accuracy and efficiency. Our results confirm that smartphone-based TISs can offer accurate traffic state estimation while being secure and privacy preserving.