US 12,457,116 B2
Method for securely equipping a vehicle with an individual certificate
Albert Held, Neu-Ulm (DE); Viktor Friesen, Karlsruhe (DE); Daniel Meidlinger, Schechingen (DE); and Matthias Dettling, Stuttgart (DE)
Assigned to MERCEDES-BENZ GROUP AG, Stuttgart (DE)
Appl. No. 18/019,883
Filed by MERCEDES-BENZ GROUP AG, Stuttgart (DE)
PCT Filed Jul. 8, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/068938
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Feb. 6, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/028806, PCT Pub. Date Feb. 10, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2020 004 832.3 (DE), filed on Aug. 7, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0291574 A1, Sep. 14, 2023
Int. Cl. G06F 21/00 (2013.01); H04L 9/08 (2006.01); H04L 9/32 (2006.01)
CPC H04L 9/3263 (2013.01) [H04L 9/0825 (2013.01); H04L 9/3247 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for securely equipping a vehicle with an individual certificate, wherein the vehicle has a control device and has a communication unit configured to establish a connection as required between the control device and a vehicle-external server, wherein the control device and the vehicle-external server have an asymmetric cryptographic mechanism for secure authentication, the method comprising:
establishing a vehicle certification authority having a vehicle infrastructure for public keys based on an asymmetric pair of keys of the vehicle certification authority;
maintaining a private key of the asymmetric pair of keys of the vehicle certification authority in the vehicle certification authority;
distributing a public key of the asymmetric pair of keys of the vehicle certification authority to participants requiring the public key of the asymmetric pair of keys,
establishing a control device certification authority having a control device infrastructure for public keys based on an asymmetric pair of keys of the control device certification authority;
maintaining a private key of the asymmetric pair of keys of the control device certification authority in the control device certification authority;
distributing the public key of asymmetric pair of keys of the control device certification authority to the participants;
equipping the control device with initial cryptographic material by a control device-individual pair of keys generated for the control device and an identity of the control device;
transmitting a public key of the control device-individual pair of keys to the control device certification authority, after which a control device-individual certificate is generated in the control device certification authority for the transmitted data using the private key of the control device certification authority, after which the control device-individual certificate is transmitted back to the control device and stored in a tamper-proof manner in the control device,
wherein the public key of the asymmetric pair of keys of the vehicle certification authority is stored in the control device in a tamper-proof manner.