Towards Next-Generation Autonomous Vehicle Communication in Smart Cities: A Blockchain and AI Perspective

Authors

  • Tanweer Alam Islamic University of Madinah

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29194/NJES.29020301

Keywords:

Blockchain, Federated Learning, Reinforcement Learning, AVs, Smart Cities, Secure Data Transmission, Intelligent Transportation Systems

Abstract

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) rely on continuous vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-everything (V2E) communication to support shared perception, traffic direction, and decision making. Integrating real-time data, connectivity, and precise navigation will revolutionize urban mobility by facilitating sustainable, secure, and highly efficient transportation options. The rapid evolution of AVs within smart cities necessitates robust and secure data transmission methods to ensure efficient and safe operations. This paper proposes a next-generation communication framework that integrates blockchain with artificial intelligence (AI) to enable secure, decentralized, and adaptive AVs network. Blockchain is employed as a distributed trust layer to ensure data immutability, decentralized identity management, and transparent transaction validation among vehicles and roadside infrastructure. AI techniques are incorporated to support intelligent threat detection, dynamic resource allocation, anomaly identification, and context-aware decision making. The integration between blockchain and AI enhances trust establishment while maintaining system scalability and real-time responsiveness. The proposed architecture introduces a layered design that separates communication, consensus, and intelligence components, allowing efficient integration with edge computing and 5G-enabled vehicular environments. This research contributes a unified conceptual framework for secure and intelligent autonomous vehicle communication, highlighting how blockchain and AI can jointly address critical limitations in next-generation vehicular networks and support the evolution of trustworthy, resilient, and scalable smart mobility ecosystems.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Orieno OH, Ndubuisi NL, Ilojianya VI, Biu PW, Odonkor B. The future of AVs in the US urban landscape: a review: analyzing implications for traffic, urban planning, and the environment. Engineering Science & Technology Journal. 2024 Jan 15;5(1):43-64. https://doi.org/10.51594/estj.v5i1.721 DOI: https://doi.org/10.51594/estj.v5i1.721

Giannaros A, Karras A, Theodorakopoulos L, Karras C, Kranias P, Schizas N, Kalogeratos G, Tsolis D. AVs: Sophisticated attacks, safety issues, challenges, open topics, blockchain, and future directions. Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy. 2023 Aug 5;3(3):493-543. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcp3030025 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jcp3030025

Cai Z, Chen J, Fan Y, Zheng Z, Li K. Blockchain-empowered Federated Learning: Benefits, Challenges, and Solutions. arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.00873. 2024 Mar 1. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2403.00873

Alam, T. Data Privacy and Security in Autonomous Connected Vehicles in Smart City Environment. Big Data Cogn. Comput. 2024, 8, 95. https://doi.org/10.3390/bdcc8090095 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/bdcc8090095

Zhang Q, Wen H, Liu Y, Chang S, Han Z. Federated-reinforcement-learning-enabled joint communication, sensing, and compu-ting resources allocation in connected automated vehicles networks. IEEE Internet of Things Journal. 2022 Jul 4;9(22):23224-40. https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2022.3188434 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2022.3188434

Alam, T., Gupta, R., Ullah, A., Qamar, S. Blockchain-Enabled Federated Reinforcement Learning (B-FRL) Model for Privacy Preservation Service in IoT Systems. Wireless Pers Commun 136, 2545–2571 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-024-11411-w DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-024-11411-w

Nayak BP, Hota L, Kumar A, Turuk AK, Chong PH. AVs: Resource allocation, security, and data privacy. IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking. 2021 Sep 7;6(1):117-31. https://doi.org/10.1109/TGCN.2021.3110822 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TGCN.2021.3110822

Lu Y, Huang X, Zhang K, Maharjan S, Zhang Y. Blockchain empowered asynchronous federated learning for secure data sharing in internet of vehicles. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology. 2020 Feb 13;69(4):4298-311. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVT.2020.2973651 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TVT.2020.2973651

Zhang S, Wang Z, Zhou Z, Wang Y, Zhang H, Zhang G, Ding H, Mumtaz S, Guizani M. Blockchain and federated deep rein-forcement learning based secure cloud-edge-end collaboration in power IoT. IEEE Wireless Communications. 2022 Apr;29(2):84-91. https://doi.org/10.1109/MWC.010.2100491 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MWC.010.2100491

Qi J, Zhou Q, Lei L, Zheng K. Federated reinforcement learning: Techniques, applications, and open challenges. arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.11887. 2021 Aug 26. https://doi.org/10.20517/ir.2021.02 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20517/ir.2021.02

Lu Y, Huang X, Zhang K, Maharjan S, Zhang Y. Communication-efficient federated learning and permissioned blockchain for digital twin edge networks. IEEE Internet of Things Journal. 2020 Aug 11;8(4):2276-88. https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2020.3015772 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2020.3015772

Demertzis K. Blockchained federated learning for threat defense. arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.12746. 2021 Feb 25.

Li D, Han D, Weng TH, Zheng Z, Li H, Liu H, Castiglione A, Li KC. Blockchain for federated learning toward secure distributed machine learning systems: a systemic survey. Soft Computing. 2022 May;26(9):4423-40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-021-06496-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-021-06496-5

Kumar P, Gupta GP, Tripathi R. TP2SF: A Trustworthy Privacy-Preserving Secured Framework for sustainable smart cities by leveraging blockchain and machine learning. Journal of Systems Architecture. 2021 May 1;115:101954. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sysarc.2020.101954 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sysarc.2020.101954

Djenouri Y, Michalak TP, Lin JC. Federated deep learning for smart city edge-based applications. Future Generation Computer Systems. 2023 Oct 1;147:350-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2023.04.034 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2023.04.034

Miao Q, Lin H, Wang X, Hassan MM. Federated deep reinforcement learning based secure data sharing for Internet of Things. Computer Networks. 2021 Oct 9;197:108327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2021.108327 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2021.108327

Ramu SP, Boopalan P, Pham QV, Maddikunta PK, Huynh-The T, Alazab M, Nguyen TT, Gadekallu TR. Federated learning ena-bled digital twins for smart cities: Concepts, recent advances, and future directions. Sustainable Cities and Society. 2022 Apr 1;79:103663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103663 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103663

Al-Huthaifi R, Li T, Huang W, Gu J, Li C. Federated learning in smart cities: Privacy and security survey. Information Sciences. 2023 Jun 1;632:833-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2023.03.033 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2023.03.033

Guo S, Xiang B, Xia X, Yan Z, Li Y. Blockchain and federated learning based data security sharing mechanism over smart city. 2020. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-104012/v1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-104012/v1

Li D, Luo Z, Cao B. Blockchain-based federated learning methodologies in smart environments. Cluster Computing. 2022 Aug;25(4):2585-99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-021-03424-y DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-021-03424-y

Moniruzzaman M, Yassine A, Benlamri R. Blockchain and Federated Reinforcement Learning for Vehicle-to-Everything Energy Trading in Smart Grids. IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence. 2023 Mar 29. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAI.2023.3262597 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TAI.2023.3262597

Issa W, Moustafa N, Turnbull B, Sohrabi N, Tari Z. Blockchain-based federated learning for securing internet of things: A com-prehensive survey. ACM Computing Surveys. 2023 Jan 13;55(9):1-43. https://doi.org/10.1145/3560816 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3560816

Abbas K, Tawalbeh LA, Rafiq A, Muthanna A, Elgendy IA, Abd El-Latif AA. Convergence of blockchain and IoT for secure transportation systems in smart cities. Security and Communication Networks. 2021 Apr 22;2021:1-3. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5597679 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5597679

Choo KK, Gai K, Chiaraviglio L. Blockchain-enabled secure communications in smart cities. Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing. 2021 Jun 1;152:125-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpdc.2021.02.021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpdc.2021.02.021

Pokhrel SR, Choi J. Federated learning with blockchain for AVs: Analysis and design challenges. IEEE Transactions on Commu-nications. 2020 Apr 27;68(8):4734-46. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCOMM.2020.2990686 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TCOMM.2020.2990686

Qammar A, Karim A, Ning H, Ding J. Securing federated learning with blockchain: a systematic literature review. Artificial Intel-ligence Review. 2023 May;56(5):3951-85. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10462-022-10271-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10462-022-10271-9

Moore E, Imteaj A, Rezapour S, Amini MH. A survey on secure and private federated learning using blockchain: Theory and application in resource-constrained computing. IEEE Internet of Things Journal. 2023 Sep 7. https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2023.3313055 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2023.3313055

Devarajan GG, Thirunnavukkarasan M, Amanullah SI, Vignesh T, Sivaraman A. An integrated security approach for vehicular networks in smart cities. Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies. 2023 Nov;34(11):e4757. https://doi.org/10.1002/ett.4757 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ett.4757

Sharma PK, Gope P, Puthal D. Blockchain and federated learning-enabled distributed secure and privacy-preserving computing architecture for iot network. In2022 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops (EuroS&PW) 2022 Jun 6 (pp. 1-9). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/EuroSPW55150.2022.00008 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/EuroSPW55150.2022.00008

Haddaji A, Ayed S, Chaari L. Federated learning with blockchain approach for trust management in IoV. In International Con-ference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications 2022 Mar 31 (pp. 411-423). Cham: Springer International Pub-lishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99584-3_36 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99584-3_36

Qi Y, Hossain MS, Nie J, Li X. Privacy-preserving blockchain-based federated learning for traffic flow prediction. Future Genera-tion Computer Systems. 2021 Apr 1;117:328-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2020.12.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2020.12.003

Kakkar R, Gupta R, Agrawal S, Tanwar S, Sharma R. Blockchain-based secure and trusted data sharing scheme for autonomous vehicle underlying 5G. Journal of Information Security and Applications. 2022 Jun 1;67:103179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jisa.2022.103179 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jisa.2022.103179

Otoum S, Al Ridhawi I, Mouftah HT. Blockchain-supported federated learning for trustworthy vehicular networks. InGLOBECOM 2020-2020 IEEE Global Communications Conference 2020 Dec 7 (pp. 1-6). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/GLOBECOM42002.2020.9322159 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/GLOBECOM42002.2020.9322159

Ullah I, Deng X, Pei X, Mushtaq H, Uzair M. IoV-SFL: A Blockchain-based Federated Learning Framework for Secure and Efficient Data Sharing in the Internet of Vehicles. Preprint. 2024. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3648280/v1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3648280/v1

Saraswat D, Verma A, Bhattacharya P, Tanwar S, Sharma G, Bokoro PN, Sharma R. Blockchain-based federated learning in UAVs beyond 5G networks: A solution taxonomy and future directions. IEEE Access. 2022 Mar 21;10:33154-82. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3161132 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3161132

Tiba K, Parizi RM, Zhang Q, Dehghantanha A, Karimipour H, Choo KK. Secure blockchain-based traffic load balancing using edge computing and reinforcement learning. Blockchain Cybersecurity, Trust and Privacy. 2020:99-128. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38181-3_6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38181-3_6

Singh SK, Park L, Park JH. Blockchain-based federated approach for privacy-preserved IoT-enabled smart vehicular networks. In2022 13th International Conference on Information and Communication Technology Convergence (ICTC) 2022 Oct 19 (pp. 1995-1999). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICTC55196.2022.9952835 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICTC55196.2022.9952835

Iordache, Stefan, Catalina Camelia Patilea, and Ciprian Paduraru. "Enhancing Autonomous Vehicle Safety with Blockchain Technology: Securing Vehicle Communication and AI Systems." Future Internet 16.12 (2024): 471. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi16120471 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/fi16120471

Gebrezgiher, Yonas Teweldemedhin, et al. "Machine learning-based blockchain technology for secure V2X communication: Open challenges and solutions." Sensors 25.15 (2025): 4793. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154793 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154793

Jaiswal, Shalini, and Yaduvir Singh. "Internet of Vehicles for Sustainable Smart Cities: Technologies, Challenges, and Future Perspectives." Driving Innovation at the Intersection of Renewable Energy and the Internet of Vehicles. IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 2025. 35-68. http://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-3321-2.ch002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-3321-2.ch002

Heidari, Arash, Seyed Hamed Rastegar, and Ahmad Khonsari. "Artificial Intelligence-driven privacy preservation in the internet of vehicles: a comprehensive systematic literature review." Journal of Big Data (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-025-01360-x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-025-01360-x

Alam, T., Gupta, R., Nasurudeen Ahamed, N., Ullah A., and Almaghthwi A. Smart mobility adoption in sustainable smart cities to establish a growing ecosystem: Challenges and opportunities. MRS Energy & Sustainability (2024). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43581-024-00092-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43581-024-00092-4

Alam, T. Metaverse of Things (MoT) Applications for Revolutionizing Urban Living in Smart Cities. Smart Cities 2024, 7, 2466-2494. https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities7050096 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities7050096

Patel VA, Bhattacharya P, Tanwar S, Jadav NK, Gupta R. BFLEdge: Blockchain based federated edge learning scheme in V2X underlying 6G communications. In2022 12th international conference on cloud computing, data science & engineering (Conflu-ence) 2022 Jan 27 (pp. 146-152). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/Confluence52989.2022.9734213 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/Confluence52989.2022.9734213

Rathee G, Sharma A, Iqbal R, Aloqaily M, Jaglan N, Kumar R. A blockchain framework for securing connected and AVs. Sensors. 2019 Jul 18;19(14):3165. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19143165 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s19143165

Chai H, Leng S, Wu F, He J. Secure and efficient blockchain-based knowledge sharing for intelligent connected vehicles. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. 2021 Dec 3;23(9):14620-31. https://doi.org/10.1109/TITS.2021.3131240 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TITS.2021.3131240

Chellapandi VP, Yuan L, Brinton CG, Żak SH, Wang Z. Federated learning for connected and automated vehicles: A survey of existing approaches and challenges. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles. 2023 Nov 14. https://doi.org/10.1109/ITSC57777.2023.10421974 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ITSC57777.2023.10421974

Alam, T., Gupta, R., Ahamed, N.N., Ullah A. A decision-making model for self-driving vehicles based on GPT-4V, federated reinforcement learning, and blockchain. Neural Comput & Applic (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-024-10161-x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-024-10161-x

Ahmad J, Zia MU, Naqvi IH, Chattha JN, Butt FA, Huang T, Xiang W. Machine learning and blockchain technologies for cyber-security in connected vehicles. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery. 2024 Jan;14(1):e1515. https://doi.org/10.1002/widm.1515 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/widm.1515

Behura A, Jain PK, Kumar A. VANETs for Smart Cities. Emerging Electrical and Computer Technologies for Smart Cities: Mod-elling, Solution Techniques and Applications. 2024 Jul 3:69. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003486930-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003486930-9

Zhao P, Huang Y, Gao J, Xing L, Wu H, Ma H. Federated learning-based collaborative authentication protocol for shared data in social IoV. IEEE Sensors Journal. 2022 Feb 22;22(7):7385-98. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2022.3153338 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2022.3153338

Pinto Neto EC, Sadeghi S, Zhang X, Dadkhah S. Federated reinforcement learning in iot: Applications, opportunities and open challenges. Applied Sciences. 2023 May 26;13(11):6497. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13116497 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/app13116497

Liu Y, Yu FR, Li X, Ji H, Leung VC. Blockchain and machine learning for communications and networking systems. ieee com-munications surveys & tutorials. 2020 Feb 24;22(2):1392-431. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2020.2975911 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2020.2975911

Ogundokun RO, Misra S, Maskeliunas R, Damasevicius R. A review on federated learning and machine learning approaches: Categorization, application areas, and blockchain technology. Information. 2022 May 23;13(5):263. https://doi.org/10.3390/info13050263 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/info13050263

Riahi A, Mohamed A, Erbad A. RL-Based Federated Learning Framework Over Blockchain (RL-FL-BC). IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management. 2023 Feb 1. https://doi.org/10.1109/TNSM.2023.3241437 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TNSM.2023.3241437

Sharma A, Podoplelova E, Shapovalov G, Tselykh A, Tselykh A. Sustainable smart cities: convergence of artificial intelligence and blockchain. Sustainability. 2021 Nov 25;13(23):13076. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313076 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313076

Yin X, Qiu H, Wu X, Zhang X. An Efficient Attribute-Based Participant Selecting Scheme with Blockchain for Federated Learning in Smart Cities. Computers. 2024 May 9;13(5):118. https://doi.org/10.3390/computers13050118 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/computers13050118

Zheng Z, Zhou Y, Sun Y, Wang Z, Liu B, Li K. Applications of federated learning in smart cities: recent advances, taxonomy, and open challenges. Connection Science. 2022 Dec 31;34(1):1-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540091.2021.1936455 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09540091.2021.1936455

Alam, Tanweer. "Breaking the Traffic Code: How MaaS Is Shaping Sustainable Mobility Ecosystems." Future Transportation 5.3 (2025): 94. https://doi.org/10.3390/futuretransp5030094 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/futuretransp5030094

Liu J, Chen C, Li Y, Sun L, Song Y, Zhou J, Jing B, Dou D. Enhancing trust and privacy in distributed networks: a comprehensive survey on blockchain-based federated learning. Knowledge and Information Systems. 2024 Apr 25:1-27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10115-024-02117-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10115-024-02117-3

Malik JA. Next-Generation Protection: Leveraging Federated Learning and Blockchain for Intrusion Detection in Smart Vehicle Network. Power System Technology. 2024 May 3;48(1):931-52. https://doi.org/10.52783/pst.353 DOI: https://doi.org/10.52783/pst.353

Dhasaratha C, Hasan MK, Islam S, Khapre S, Abdullah S, Ghazal TM, Alzahrani AI, Alalwan N, Vo N, Akhtaruzzaman M. Data privacy model using blockchain reinforcement federated learning approach for scalable internet of medical things. CAAI Trans-actions on Intelligence Technology. 2024 Feb 6. https://doi.org/10.1049/cit2.12287 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1049/cit2.12287

Sameera KM, Nicolazzo S, Arazzi M, Nocera A, KA RR, Vinod P, Conti M. Privacy-preserving in Blockchain-based Federated Learning systems. Computer Communications. 2024 Apr 20. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2401.03552

Downloads

Published

20-06-2026

How to Cite

[1]
T. Alam, “Towards Next-Generation Autonomous Vehicle Communication in Smart Cities: A Blockchain and AI Perspective”, NJES, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 301–312, Jun. 2026, doi: 10.29194/NJES.29020301.

Similar Articles

101-110 of 202

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.