Authenticable (t,n) Threshold Quantum Secret Sharing Protocol for Secure Vehicular Communication

With the rapid advancement of Internet of Vehicles technology (IoV), secure vehicle communication has become a core requirement for intelligent transportation systems. However, traditional cryptographic protocols face limitations in security, particularly against potential quantum computing attacks. This paper proposes an authenticable threshold quantum secret sharing protocol for secure vehicle communication. In this scheme, a traffic control system acts as the dealer, encoding traffic status or control commands into single‐photon states and distributing them to uniquely identified vehicles. Any vehicles within the vehicle cluster can collaboratively reconstruct the secret. Analysis shows that the protocol satisfies correctness and is resistant to common attacks, including intercept‐resend, entangle‐measure, man‐in‐the‐middle and Trojan horse attacks. Performance analysis quantifies the effect of noise on the transmission of quantum states and provides guidance for the choice of quantum states. Compared with existing vehicle security protocols, the proposed scheme demonstrates advantages in security and efficiency, making it suitable for high‐security IoV scenarios such as foggy highways and cooperative driving.