In the context of updates of software modules in the electric devices of vehicles in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) communication environment, this Recommendation aims to provide a procedure and the components of secure Over-The-Air (OTA) software updates for ITS communication devices. This includes a basic model of a software update procedure, with its messages and related attributes, for completing software updates with security considerations taken into account. This procedure is defined in the application layer for preventing threats, such as the tampering of and malicious intrusion to communication devices in vehicles, which are transferred using existing communication protocols. Procedures based on wired software updates through the On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) port or portable devices is out of the scope of this Recommendation.

The procedure is to be applied to communication devices on ITS vehicles under Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications by means of the Internet and/or ITS-dedicated networks. The procedure provides technical guidelines which can be utilized by car manufacturers and ITS-related industries as a good reference. This Recommendation does not specify any compliance requirements for software updates.