# TPatch: A Triggered Physical Adversarial Patch

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.00148 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.00148/

## Key facts

- Cited by 22 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 28 of its 47 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 30 Dec 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 28 of 28)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Large-Scale Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.1556/) (2014)
- [Faster R-CNN: Towards Real-Time Object Detection with Region Proposal Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.01497/) (2015)
- [Explaining and Harnessing Adversarial Examples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6572/) (2014)
- [Grad-CAM: Visual Explanations from Deep Networks via Gradient-based Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.02391/) (2016)
- [Towards Deep Learning Models Resistant to Adversarial Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.06083/) (2017)
- [Intriguing properties of neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.6199/) (2013)
- [Towards Evaluating the Robustness of Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.04644/) (2016)
- [Perceptual Losses for Real-Time Style Transfer and Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.08155/) (2016)
- [YOLOv3: An Incremental Improvement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.02767/) (2018)
- [Adversarial examples in the physical world](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.02533/) (2016)
- [Inception-v4, Inception-ResNet and the Impact of Residual Connections on Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.07261/) (2016)
- [BDD100K: A Diverse Driving Dataset for Heterogeneous Multitask Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.04687/) (2018)
- [Adversarial Patch](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.09665/) (2017)
- [Feature Squeezing: Detecting Adversarial Examples in Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.01155/) (2017)
- [Adversarial Examples for Semantic Segmentation and Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.08603/) (2017)
- [MagNet: a Two-Pronged Defense against Adversarial Examples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.09064/) (2017)
- [Approximating CNNs with Bag-of-local-Features models works surprisingly well on ImageNet](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.00760/) (2019)
- [A study of the effect of JPG compression on adversarial images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.00853/) (2016)
- [Physical Adversarial Examples for Object Detectors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.07769/) (2018)
- [ShapeShifter: Robust Physical Adversarial Attack on Faster R-CNN Object Detector](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.05810/) (2018)
- [SentiNet: Detecting Localized Universal Attacks Against Deep Learning Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.00292/) (2018)
- [Invisible for both Camera and LiDAR: Security of Multi-Sensor Fusion based Perception in Autonomous Driving Under Physical-World Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09249/) (2021)
- [Dirty Road Can Attack: Security of Deep Learning based Automated Lane Centering under Physical-World Attack](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.06701/) (2020)
- [SLAP: Improving Physical Adversarial Examples with Short-Lived Adversarial Perturbations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.04137/) (2020)
- [Invisible Perturbations: Physical Adversarial Examples Exploiting the Rolling Shutter Effect](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.13375/) (2020)
- [Defending against Whitebox Adversarial Attacks via Randomized Discretization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.10586/) (2019)
- [SoK: On the Semantic AI Security in Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.05314/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 22 of 22)

- [ControlLoc: Physical-World Hijacking Attack on Visual Perception in Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.05810/) (2024)
- [Revisiting Physical-World Adversarial Attack on Traffic Sign Recognition: A Commercial Systems Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.09860/) (2024)
- [CDUPatch: Color-Driven Universal Adversarial Patch Attack for Dual-Modal Visible-Infrared Detectors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.10888/) (2025)
- [Understanding Impacts of Electromagnetic Signal Injection Attacks on Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.16327/) (2024)
- [SlowPerception: Physical-World Latency Attack against Visual Perception in Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.05800/) (2024)
- [The Fluorescent Veil: A Stealthy and Effective Physical Adversarial Patch Against Traffic Sign Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12394/) (2024)
- [Is Your Autonomous Vehicle Safe? Understanding the Threat of Electromagnetic Signal Injection Attacks on Traffic Scene Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.05239/) (2025)
- [Physical Adversarial Camouflage through Gradient Calibration and Regularization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.05414/) (2025)
- [A Simulation Framework for Electromagnetic Signal Injection Attacks on Image Sensors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.05124/) (2024)
- [AGATE: Stealthy Black-box Watermarking for Multimodal Model Copyright Protection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.21044/) (2025)
- [A Survey of Adversarial Defenses in Vision-based Systems: Categorization, Methods and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.00384/) (2025)
- [See No Evil: Adversarial Attacks Against Linguistic-Visual Association in Referring Multi-Object Tracking Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.02028/) (2025)
- [LightPure: Realtime Adversarial Image Purification for Mobile Devices Using Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.00340/) (2024)
- [Robustness Analysis against Adversarial Patch Attacks in Fully Unmanned Stores](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.08835/) (2025)
- [DisPatch: Disarming Adversarial Patches in Object Detection with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.04597/) (2025)
- [T2I-Based Physical-World Appearance Attack against Traffic Sign Recognition Systems in Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.12956/) (2025)
- [AD2: Analysis and Detection of Adversarial Threats in Visual Perception for End-to-End Autonomous Driving Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.10160/) (2026)
- [Physical Adversarial Attacks on AI Surveillance Systems:Detection, Tracking, and Visible--Infrared Evasion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.06865/) (2026)
- [RACF: A Resilient Autonomous Car Framework with Object Distance Correction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.12418/) (2026)
- [Still Camouflage, Moving Illusion: View-Induced Trajectory Manipulation in Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.12743/) (2026)
- [AdvScene: Rethinking Adversarial Patch Evaluation Through Scene Robustness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.30578/) (2026)
- [Banshee: Target Switch Attacks on Gimbal-Stabilized Visual Tracking Systems via Acoustic Injection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.09930/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Autonomous vehicles increasingly utilize the vision-based perception module to acquire information about driving environments and detect obstacles. Correct detection and classification are important to ensure safe driving decisions. Existing works have demonstrated the feasibility of fooling the perception models such as object detectors and image classifiers with printed adversarial patches. However, most of them are indiscriminately offensive to every passing autonomous vehicle. In this paper, we propose TPatch, a physical adversarial patch triggered by acoustic signals. Unlike other adversarial patches, TPatch remains benign under normal circumstances but can be triggered to launch a hiding, creating or altering attack by a designed distortion introduced by signal injection attacks towards cameras. To avoid the suspicion of human drivers and make the attack practical and robust in the real world, we propose a content-based camouflage method and an attack robustness enhancement method to strengthen it. Evaluations with three object detectors, YOLO V3/V5 and Faster R-CNN, and eight image classifiers demonstrate the effectiveness of TPatch in both the simulation and the real world. We also discuss possible defenses at the sensor, algorithm, and system levels.