Towards Trustworthy Road Digital Twins: A State-of-the-art Review

Abstract

Digital twins have been recognized as a powerful tool for whole-life management of road infrastructure in an intelligent, sustainable, and resilient manner. On the way forward, however, the road infrastructure stakeholders are still faced with the challenge regarding how to ensure the digital twins work trustily. An untrustworthy digital twin would produce inaccurate information and decision-making, resulting in high financial costs, inefficient road management, and safety concerns. To address this challenge, this paper analyzes the current state of the digital twin paradigm and classifies the potential factors that will impact the trustworthiness of digital twins. The analysis and classification take into consideration the functionality layers of digital twins and the operational requirements in road infrastructure management. Accordingly, the practical approaches that can be adopted to resolve the identified trustworthiness issues are thoroughly reviewed and systematically integrated into a framework designed to ensure the appropriate and trustworthy use of a road digital twin. Specifically, the developed trustworthy framework is underpinned by three key pillars: precision, transparency, and cybersecurity. It is strongly envisioned that this developed framework will serve as valuable guidance for the design and construction of robust and trustworthy digital twins, helping mitigate risks and enhance the overall effectiveness of road infrastructure management.