History
2010: A predecessor technology of Uptane, The Update Framework (TUF), which secures software updates on repositories, is introduced in an academic research paper, coauthored by Justin Samuel and Justin Cappos.
2013: Cappos, along with Trishank Kuppusamy, and Vladimir Diaz begin adapting TUF for Python, Ruby, and environments used for cloud computing. Kuppusamy, a Ph.D. student at the time, will later use this experience on the Uptane project.
2015: NYU Tandon receives a grant (with Cappos as PI) from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to begin work on a project to secure software updates on vehicles. University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute(UMTRI) and Southwest Research Institute(SWRI) receive a similar grant to work on automotive security.
2016: A consortium of researchers at UMTRI, SWRI, and NYU Tandon begin developing Uptane, using the basic TUF design as a starting point.
2016 The research team also begins holding a series of workshops (organized by Andre Weimerskirch at UMTRI) at which auto companies, suppliers, and representatives of government agencies meet to review and comment on the work in progress. The team also establishes an online forum, where issues could be raised and discussed. Both of these steps help to ensure alignment with the intended market.
2016: Uptane: Securing Software Updates for Automobiles is presented at escar 16 by lead author Kuppusamy. This marked the first presentation of the project to an academic audience.
2017: Uptane is officially introduced at press events in Ann Arbor, MI, and Brooklyn, NY.
2017: Advanced Telematic Systems (ATS), now HERE Technologies, becomes one of the first suppliers to publicly acknowledge adoption of Uptane when it integrates the framework into two of its OTA solutions, OTA Plus and ATS Garage.
2017: Uptane is named one of the year's most important security innovations by Popular Science.
2018: Airbiquity receives a BIG Award for Business in the 2017 New Product of the Year Award category for its Uptane-based OTAmatic over-the-air software and data management solution.
2018: An open source, C++ implementation of Uptane called aktualizr is developed by Advanced Telematic Systems (subsequently acquired by HERE technologies). aktualizr is integrated into Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), a collaborative open source project in which automakers, suppliers and technology companies work together to advance the development and adoption of a fully open software stack for the connected car.
2018: NYU Tandon School of Engineering becomes an associate member of the Linux Foundation and a Bronze member of AGL on the strength of the Foundation’s adoption of Uptane and TUF projects.
2018: The Uptane Alliance, a nonprofit entity organized under the umbrella of IEEE's International Standards and Technology Organization is formed. As an ISTO supported organization, the Alliance will oversee the development of a Standard for the implementation/deployment of Uptane, as well as the advancement and improvement of the technology itself.
2019: IEEE/ISTO releases version 1.0.0 of the Uptane specification.
2019: The Uptane Alliance joins the Linux Foundation's Joint Development Foundation, giving the project a pathway for ISO standardization of future versions of the Standard.
2021: The Uptane working group releases versions 1.1.0 and 1.2.0 of the Uptane Standard.
2021: Uptane releases its first whitepaper Uptane: Securing delivery of software updates for ground vehicles. A Japanese language version is released later in the year.
2021: A formal method for members of the community to propose the addition or modification of the Uptane specification, known as Proposed Uptane Revision and Enhancement or PUREs, is established. To date, PUREs have introduced to Uptane a secure method for handling offline updates, and a strategy to addressing software supply chain security in Uptane.
2021: In conjunction with escar Europe, Uptane holds its first virtual International Conference, drawing attendees from Europe and Asia.
2022: Version 2.0.0 of the Uptane Standard is released. The most significant change in this version is the removal of references to the Uptane Time Server to clarify that users can make their own decisions about secure sources of time.
2023: Version 2.1.0 of the Uptane Standard is released.