Whitepaper: Closing the gaps: Complexity and uncertainty in the safety assurance and regulation of automated driving

Together with the University of York, Fraunhofer IKS has published a white paper presenting a new approach to assure the safety of cognitive cyber-physical systems (CPS), including automated driving systems.

It was written by two leading experts in the safety of complex systems:

• Prof. Dr. Simon Burton, Scientific Director Safety Assurance at Fraunhofer IKS
• Prof. John McDermid, Director of the Assuring Autonomy International Programme at the University of York

The work builds on the authors’ earlier research for the Royal Academy of Engineering on the safety of complex systems. It looks at how we can understand and manage the growing complexity of CPS and uncertainties in their behaviour, to help us assure their safety.

Since technical measures alone are not enough to understand the complexity of CPS, three different perspectives have been defined to provide a framework for ongoing assurance of the safety of CPS:

• Technical and human factors
• Management and operations
• Governance and regulation

The authors offer an approach to managing the safety of CPS and regulating their deployment and operation, in order to maintain an acceptable level of residual risk, despite - and with the intent of reducing - any remaining uncertainty.

Download white paper to continue reading.