Adapting the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) Framework to AV Development

The technological advancements in the automotive industry have seen a significant leap with the introduction of ADS-Equipped Vehicles (AVs), with potential for enhanced safety, efficiency, and convenience. As the development of an AV transitions from the stages of conceptual design to deployment, assessing the maturity of the technology through a structured framework is crucial. This paper proposes the adaptation of the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) framework originally developed by NASA (and adopted widely in a variety of industries) to the AV industry to provide a consistent, understandable, and transparent method to describe an AV product’s state of development. The TRL framework is mated to the existing Safety Case Framework (SCF) developed in the Automated Vehicle – Test and Evaluation Process (AV-TEP) Mission, a collaboration between Science Foundation Arizona and Arizona State University. Advancing from one TRL to the next is argued through the satisfaction of requirements for each TRL and supported by evidence and data. The requirements for each level are established for the three pillars of the AV-TEP Mission’s SCF, each of which address safety-critical aspects of AV development: the Safety Management System pillar focuses on organizational safety and mitigation of identified risks, the Design Methods pillar emphasizes the importance of rigorous engineering design practices, and the Testing pillar validates and verifies the AV and its subsystems through various testing methods. This paper aims to address the need for all stakeholders (AV developers, regulatory agencies, and the public) to concur on the development state of an AV at any given time and provide an agreed-upon roadmap for when and how the transition through each stage of development should occur. The ultimate culmination of this TRL-framed process is the on-road deployment of the AV in its usage specification in a manner that assures public safety.