Cryptographic hash chain for vehicle configuration verification

1. A computer system for creating trusted cryptographic hash values for verifying a vehicle software configuration of a vehicle, the computer system comprising:

a remote backend computing system including a processor, the remote backend computing system remote from the vehicle; and

a non-transitory, tangible, computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive a vehicle data file including a vehicle identifier for identifying the vehicle, a trusted software version identifier for identifying a version of a software stored on the vehicle, and a digital signature for validating the software as a compliant and trusted software, wherein validating the software as the compliant and trusted software includes determining the software has been validated against one or more safety and compliance standards;

generate a first data block including a configuration hash value of the trusted software version identifier, the digital signature, and the vehicle identifier;

store the first data block in a memory; and

transmit the first data block to any number of network participants using a distributed network, wherein the any number of network participants validate the digital signature of the first data block before storing the first data block.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to calculate the configuration hash value of the trusted software version identifier and the vehicle identifier.

3. The computer system of claim 2 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to calculate the configuration hash value using a secure hash algorithm (SHA).

4. The computer system of claim 3 , wherein the SHA includes a SHA-2, a SHA-3, or a SHA-256.

5. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein generating the first data block further includes appending the digital signature to the first data block.

6. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the digital signature indicates a source and integrity of the trusted software version identifier.

7. A computer-implemented method for creating trusted cryptographic hash values for verifying a vehicle software configuration of a vehicle using a computing system including one or more processors, the computing system remote from the vehicle, said method comprising:

receiving a vehicle data file including a vehicle identifier for identifying the vehicle, a trusted software version identifier for identifying a version of a software stored on the vehicle, and a digital signature for validating the software as a compliant and trusted software, wherein validating the software as the compliant and trusted software comprises determining the software has been validated against one or more safety and compliance standards;

generating, using the one or more processors, a first data block including a configuration hash value of the trusted software version identifier, the digital signature, and the vehicle identifier;

storing the first data block in a memory; and

transmitting the first data block to any number of network participants using a distributed network, wherein the any number of network participants validate the digital signature of the first data block before storing the first data block.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising calculating the configuration hash value of at the trusted software version identifier and the vehicle identifier.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising calculating the configuration hash value using a secure hash algorithm (SHA).

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the SHA includes a SHA-2, a SHA-3, or a SHA-256.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein generating the first data block further comprises appending the digital signature to the first data block.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the digital signature indicates a source and integrity of the trusted software version identifier.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by a computing system including at least one processor coupled to a memory, computing system remote from a vehicle, the computer-executable instructions cause the computing system to:

receive a vehicle data file including a vehicle identifier for identifying the vehicle, a trusted software version identifier for identifying a version of a software stored on the vehicle, and a digital signature for validating the software as a compliant and trusted software, wherein validating the software as the compliant and trusted software includes determining the software has been validated against one or more safety and compliance standards;

generate a first data block including a configuration hash value of the trusted software version identifier, the digital signature, and the vehicle identifier;

store the first data block in the memory; and

transmit the first data block to any number of network participants using a distributed network, wherein the any number of network participants validate the digital signature of the first data block before storing the first data block.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computing system to calculate the configuration hash value of the trusted software version identifier and the vehicle identifier.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computing system to calculate the configuration hash value using a secure hash algorithm (SHA).

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein generating the first data block further includes appending the digital signature to the first data block.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the digital signature indicates a source and integrity of the trusted software version identifier.