Abstract
Driver authentication is critical for vehicle security, personalization, and usage-based insurance. Existing approaches rely on explicit authentication (PIN, fingerprint) that disrupts the driving experience, or on steering/braking behavior patterns that take time to accumulate.
B-Auth discovers that automotive battery voltage patterns — shaped by each driver's unique power consumption habits across HVAC, infotainment, and lighting preferences — form a distinctive behavioral fingerprint. By analyzing voltage time series from the OBD-II port, B-Auth authenticates drivers passively and continuously, with no cameras, no wearables, and no disruption to driving.
Key Insights
- Battery voltage encodes driver-specific power consumption patterns as a behavioral fingerprint.
- Passive, continuous authentication — no user action required after initial enrollment.
- Lightweight OBD-II dongle is the only hardware required; works on any modern vehicle.
- Resistant to impersonation by non-enrolled drivers attempting to mimic known patterns.
BibTeX
@article{he2021bauth,
title = {Authenticating Drivers Using Automotive Batteries},
author = {He, Liang and Shu, Yuanchao and Lee, Youngmoon and Chen, Dongyao and Shin, Kang G.},
journal = {Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT)},
year = {2021},
publisher = {ACM}
}