Aggregated Zero-knowledge Proof and Blockchain-Empowered Authentication for Autonomous Truck Platooning

Platooning technologies enable trucks to drive cooperatively and automatically, providing benefits including less fuel consumption, greater road capacity, and safety. This paper introduces an aggregated zero-knowledge proof and blockchain-empowered system for privacy-preserving identity verification in the mixed fleet platooning environment. The correctness proof and the security analysis of the proposed authentication scheme are provided, highlighting its increased security and fast performance in comparison to a single-proof design. The blockchain performs the role of verifier within the authentication scheme, reducing unnecessary communication overhead. Moreover, the blockchain improves system resilience by providing fault tolerance to the decentralized verification process. Platooning records are stored directly on the digital ledger to guarantee data immutability and integrity, while the programmable access control policies ensure data privacy. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach can perform authentication on the order of milliseconds, regardless of the number of proofs, highlighting feasibility for real-world deployment in truck platooning.