Blockchain-Based Authentication for Internet of Vehicles Using Decentralized Identity and Smart Contracts

Abstract

Internet of vehicles (IoV) achieves this through the provision of easy and real time communication between vehicles, roadside infrastructure, and cloud services. However, its dynamic and heterogeneous environment presents significant authentication challenges, with conventional Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) approaches often proving unscalable, slow, and dependent on centralized authorities. This paper presents a blockchain-based authentication framework that leverages Decentralized Identity (DID), cryptographic hashing, digital signatures, and smart contracts to address these limitations. In the proposed system, each vehicle generates a unique DID, signs event data using its private key, and records authentication proofs immutably on the blockchain. The DID and the reputation that goes along with it allow verifiers to ascertain data integrity and authenticity without depending on centralized trust entities. By removing single points of failure and ensuring resistance to impersonation and data tampering, this approach delivers a low-latency, scalable, and secure authentication mechanism tailored for next-generation vehicular networks.