Unsettled Domains Concerning Autonomous System Validation and Verification Processes

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) face similar challenges regarding the regulation of autonomous systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that replace the human factor in the decision-making process. Validation and verification (V&V) processes contribute to implementation of correct system requirements and the development life cycle - starting with the definition of regulatory, marketing, operational, performance, and safety requirements. The V&V process is one of the steps of a development life cycle starting with the definition of regulatory, marketing, operational, performance, and safety requirements. They define what a product is, and they flow down into lower level requirements defining control architectures, hardware, and software. The industry is attempting to define regulatory requirements and a framework to gain safety clearance of such products. This report suggests a regulatory text and a safety and V&V approach from an aerospace engineering perspective assessing the replacement of the human driver from the decision-making role by a computational system. It also suggests an approach where aerospace guidelines can be used alongside the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard ISO 26262 in order to define a viable and valuable framework for autonomous systems safety clearance (or certification).

NOTE: SAE EDGE™ Research Reports are intended to identify and illuminate key issues in emerging, but still unsettled, technologies of interest to the mobility industry. The goal of SAE EDGE™ Research Reports is to stimulate discussion and work in the hope of promoting and speeding resolution of identified issues. SAE EDGE™ Research Reports are not intended to resolve the issues they identify or close any topic to further scrutiny.