9 research outputs found
Grasping Causality for the Explanation of Criticality for Automated Driving
The verification and validation of automated driving systems at SAE levels 4
and 5 is a multi-faceted challenge for which classical statistical
considerations become infeasible. For this, contemporary approaches suggest a
decomposition into scenario classes combined with statistical analysis thereof
regarding the emergence of criticality. Unfortunately, these associational
approaches may yield spurious inferences, or worse, fail to recognize the
causalities leading to critical scenarios, which are, in turn, prerequisite for
the development and safeguarding of automated driving systems. As to
incorporate causal knowledge within these processes, this work introduces a
formalization of causal queries whose answers facilitate a causal understanding
of safety-relevant influencing factors for automated driving. This formalized
causal knowledge can be used to specify and implement abstract safety
principles that provably reduce the criticality associated with these
influencing factors. Based on Judea Pearl's causal theory, we define a causal
relation as a causal structure together with a context, both related to a
domain ontology, where the focus lies on modeling the effect of such
influencing factors on criticality as measured by a suitable metric. As to
assess modeling quality, we suggest various quantities and evaluate them on a
small example. As availability and quality of data are imperative for validly
estimating answers to the causal queries, we also discuss requirements on
real-world and synthetic data acquisition. We thereby contribute to
establishing causal considerations at the heart of the safety processes that
are urgently needed as to ensure the safe operation of automated driving
systems
Criticality Metrics for Automated Driving: A Review and Suitability Analysis of the State of the Art
The large-scale deployment of automated vehicles on public roads has the
potential to vastly change the transportation modalities of today's society.
Although this pursuit has been initiated decades ago, there still exist open
challenges in reliably ensuring that such vehicles operate safely in open
contexts. While functional safety is a well-established concept, the question
of measuring the behavioral safety of a vehicle remains subject to research.
One way to both objectively and computationally analyze traffic conflicts is
the development and utilization of so-called criticality metrics. Contemporary
approaches have leveraged the potential of criticality metrics in various
applications related to automated driving, e.g. for computationally assessing
the dynamic risk or filtering large data sets to build scenario catalogs. As a
prerequisite to systematically choose adequate criticality metrics for such
applications, we extensively review the state of the art of criticality
metrics, their properties, and their applications in the context of automated
driving. Based on this review, we propose a suitability analysis as a
methodical tool to be used by practitioners. Both the proposed method and the
state of the art review can then be harnessed to select well-suited measurement
tools that cover an application's requirements, as demonstrated by an exemplary
execution of the analysis. Ultimately, efficient, valid, and reliable
measurements of an automated vehicle's safety performance are a key requirement
for demonstrating its trustworthiness
Simulation of Abstract Scenarios: Towards Automated Tooling in Criticality Analysis
While the introduction of automated vehicles to public roads promises various ecological, economical and societal benefits, reliable verification & validation processes that guarantee safe operation of automated vehicles are subject to ongoing research. As automated vehicles are safety-critical complex systems, operating in an open context, the uncountable infinite set of potentially critical situations renders traditional, distance-based approaches to verification & validation infeasible. Leveraging the power of abstraction, current scenario-based approaches aim at reducing this complexity by elic-itation of representative scenario classes while simultaneously shifting significant analysis and testing efforts to virtual environments. In this work we bridge the gap between high-level, abstract scenario specifications and state-of-the-art detailed vehicle and traffic simulators. While the first allow for coverage argumentation with the definition of finite and well manageable sets of scenario classes the latter is necessary for a in-depth assessment of the vehicle implementation and its interaction with the physical environment. We present a method and prototypical implementation based on constraint solving techniques to generate (sets of) concrete simulation tasks defined in the well established OpenDRIVE/OpenSCENARIO formats from abstract scenarios specified as Traffic Sequence Charts. The feasibility is demonstrated using a highway parallel overtaking scenario as a running example
Determining the Validity of Simulation Models for the Verification of Automated Driving Systems
As the verification of automated driving systems poses an immense challenge, recent approaches aim for a virtualization of such efforts using computer simulations. This goal, however, motivates a strong need for trustworthy simulation environments and models. As to assess the modeling quality, this work proposes a process to measure the difference between the behaviors of several models. To achieve this, we consider sets of discretized simulation runs to be modeled by time-homogenous Markov chains and under this assumption derive a computable distance measure between sets of simulation traces. If it can be assured that all relevant variables may be observed and no crucial hidden factors are left out, the method can be extended to compare real-world traces with their simulated counterparts
On Quantification for SOTIF Validation of Automated Driving Systems
Automated driving systems are safety-critical cyber-physical systems whose safety of the intended functionality (SOTIF) can not be assumed without proper argumentation based on appropriate evidences. Recent advances in standards and regulations on the safety of driving automation are therefore intensely concerned with demonstrating that the intended functionality of these systems does not introduce unreasonable risks to stakeholders. In this work, we critically analyze the ISO 21448 standard which contains requirements and guidance on how the SOTIF can be provably validated. Emphasis lies on developing a consistent terminology as a basis for the subsequent definition of a validation strategy when using quantitative acceptance criteria. In the broad picture, we aim to achieve a well-defined risk decomposition that enables rigorous, quantitative validation approaches for the SOTIF of automated driving systems