Our safety framework guides how we design, test and deploy our autonomous driving technology.
We draw upon the two most prominent guidelines in Europe and the U.S. for the safety assurance of automated vehicles, and it is organised into five distinct safety areas: functional safety, the safety of the intended functionality, operational safety, crashworthiness, and cyber security.
Functional safety ensures that our vehicles operate safely, even when there is a system fault. We achieve this by following international automotive safety standards which define the systematic processes to ensure the safety of electronic systems. We rigorously evaluate all electronic systems to establish that our vehicle electronics are as reliable as possible and mitigate any risks arising from random hardware failures.
SOTIF addresses the new safety challenges of proving that an autonomous vehicle will behave safely in all driving conditions. In contrast to functional safety, which mitigates risks that arise from a system failure, SOTIF mitigates any unsafe performance issues not related to a system failure, such as when a hazardous scenario is not detected or understood by an autonomous vehicle. SOTIF raises the safety bar by ensuring that the overall system is designed, tested and verified to function as intended under all conditions.
Operational safety ensures that we conduct our vehicle trials safely. We identify all risks that may arise during open and closed-course testing. We then design procedures to minimise and respond to risks better. In practical terms, this consists of measures such as pre-test checklists and briefings, comprehensive driver training, incident investigation procedures, emergency response strategies, periodic safety audits, and collaboration with local authorities and emergency services.
Adapting vehicles with our autonomous driving technology entails mechanical and electrical integration. These modifications may impact some of the structural properties of the vehicle and could interfere with active and passive safety systems. To safeguard the vehicle’s built-in safety features, our automotive engineers rely on proven methods to ensure that our systems do not negatively impact the vehicle’s crashworthiness and maintain its roadworthiness.
Our cyber security strategy is an essential part of our safety program and ensures the operational resilience of the company and our products. To robustly address concerns, we apply industry standards to limit potential vulnerabilities and secure the physical and data-related aspects of our product and operations.
We are a multi-disciplinary team with decades of experience in automotive safety, self-driving and robotics. Our safety team works across the company to ensure we are developing our technology safely and building a strong safety culture.
We collaborate with industry-leading safety experts from academia, international standards groups and government bodies. As an industry, we must work together to develop the best possible framework for the safety assurance of self-driving cars.
