“Autonomous Driving”, known as the co-operation project was led by Volkswagen where the ability was to find a way to develop vehicles from one point to another with a limited installation capability.
The project is meant to test the capability of an autonomous vehicle in public roads with traffic where an immense challenge is presented with the intention to solve technical or non-technical problems. Even though technical functionality is considered as one of the necessary hurdles but safety on the road is one major concern to be handled both for the traffic on the road and people inside the autonomous vehicle.
Safety can be handled with activities related to the technical and organization area. One of the main philosophies followed by an autonomous driving vehicle is avoiding events that are without any intention such as vehicle damage or injury. The major aim of the following project is ‘Safety before availability’, so allowing the Volkswagen test track to be used in the testing of the vehicles.
“Safety before Availability” is defined with basic guidelines: –
A vehicle, which is able to drive without human intervention (autonomous) by use of electronic equipment, shall not entail a hazard to human beings and/or property that is greater than the hazard represented by the conventional (human) driver!
In my opinion, an autonomous vehicle is no doubt covering a major area and concerns and is presented as a superior solution with a futuristic way of movement but how far the safety issues are handled is still a major concern where guidelines are an important theme.
Source:- System Safety for an Autonomous Vehicle, Peter Heitmann and Christian Ameling.