AI Safety Assurance for Automated Vehicles: A Survey on Research, Standardization, Regulation
Lars Ullrich, Michael Buchholz, Klaus Dietmayer, Knut Graichen
TL;DR
The paper addresses the safety assurance of AI in automated vehicles by analyzing the interdependent triad of research, standardization, and regulation. It argues for a data-driven safety paradigm that embraces lifecycle considerations, data dependency, and abstraction through concepts like SOTIF, while recognizing the limitations of current automotive standardization and regulation. By synthesizing current AI safety research, evolving standards, and diverse regulatory landscapes (EU, US, China and others), it provides a forward-looking roadmap emphasizing data-centric verification, simulation-based validation, and iterative real-world validation. The work highlights open questions and proposes flexible, open standards and non-binding guidelines to accelerate safe deployment while preserving innovation and cross-border compatibility.
Abstract
Assuring safety of artificial intelligence (AI) applied to safety-critical systems is of paramount importance. Especially since research in the field of automated driving shows that AI is able to outperform classical approaches, to handle higher complexities, and to reach new levels of autonomy. At the same time, the safety assurance required for the use of AI in such safety-critical systems is still not in place. Due to the dynamic and far-reaching nature of the technology, research on safeguarding AI is being conducted in parallel to AI standardization and regulation. The parallel progress necessitates simultaneous consideration in order to carry out targeted research and development of AI systems in the context of automated driving. Therefore, in contrast to existing surveys that focus primarily on research aspects, this paper considers research, standardization and regulation in a concise way. Accordingly, the survey takes into account the interdependencies arising from the triplet of research, standardization and regulation in a forward-looking perspective and anticipates and discusses open questions and possible future directions. In this way, the survey ultimately serves to provide researchers and safety experts with a compact, holistic perspective that discusses the current status, emerging trends, and possible future developments.