Recently, vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) embark a great deal of attention in the area of wireless and communication technology and are becoming one of the prominent research areas in the intelligent transportation system (ITS) because they provide safety and precautionary measures to the drivers and passengers, respectively. VANETs are quite different from the mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) in terms of characteristics, challenges, system architecture, and their application. In this paper, we summarize the recent state-of-the-art methods of VANETs by discussing their architecture, security, and challenges. Secondly, we discuss the detailed analysis of security schemes and the possible measures to provide secure communication in VANETs. Then, we comprehensively cover the authentication schemes, which is able to protect the vehicular network from malicious nodes and fake messages. Thus, it provides security in VANETs. Thirdly, we cover the mobility and network simulators, as well as other simulation tools, followed by the performance of authentication schemes. Finally, we discuss the comfort and safety applications of VANETs. In sum, this paper comprehensively covers the entire VANET system and its applications by filling the gaps of existing surveys and incorporating the latest trends in VANETs.
Privacy-preserving authentication schemes for vehicular ad hoc networks: a survey