Adopting Aviation Safety Knowledge into the Discussions of Safe Implementation of Connected and Autonomous Road Vehicles

The development of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) is progressing fast. Yet, safety and standardization-related discussions are limited due to the recent nature of the sector. Despite the effort that is initiated to kick-start the study, awareness among practitioners is still low. Hence, further effort is required to stimulate this discussion. Among the available works on CAV safety, some of them take inspiration from the aviation sector that has strict safety regulations. The underlying reason is the experience that has been gained over the decades. However, the literature still lacks a thorough association between automation in aviation and the CAV from the safety perspective. As such, this paper motivates the adoption of safe-automation knowledge from aviation to facilitate safer CAV systems. The authors briefly elaborate on the widely discussed aviation themes, including autopilot and auto-throttle malfunctions, flight management system, human factors, and suggests how this knowledge can improve the safety of road CAVs use-case. Besides, the differences between the safety consideration in the two fields are also denoted. In summary, the main aim of this paper is to highlight the potential benefits of adopting aviation automation safety knowledge into safe CAV development. With the advances in the CAV, the authors are convinced that this subject could serve software developers and engineers in developing safe and standardized CAV technology.