The Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium™ (AVSC), a program of SAE Industry Technologies Consortia (SAE ITC^®), has launched the AVSC Best Practice for Continuous Monitoring and Improvement after Deployment (AVSC0011202307). Successful scaling of automated driving system (ADS) technology and realization of its full potential will require developers and service providers to continuously monitor performance of their fleet and enact prompt improvements should issues arise.

ADS developers and manufacturers can use the data collected from vehicles in active deployments (e.g., safety performance data) to proactively confirm initial risk assumptions and feed other safety management processes. This best practice provides an approach to continuous monitoring and potential improvement of safety performance of automated driving system-dedicated vehicles (ADS-DVs) after deployment.

“This is a great example of how AVSC has been building on previous best practices to further expand a safety case. It provides clear examples of data sources, collection methods, and analysis of data to identify areas of improvement. It is encouraging to see that our members sign up to follow these best practices and are committed to improving the safety of their products,” said Darcyne Foldenauer, AVSC Director.

The frameworks discussed in this document describe how to continuously monitor and potentially improve safety performance in the presence of known and unknown changes in the operating environment. This continuous monitoring and improvement of behavioral competency is a key aspect of the broader safety assurance framework for building a safety case for ADS-DVs. The frameworks may introduce, augment, or replace existing monitoring and improvement methodologies. These methodologies and tools may help ensure ADS manufacturers and operators proactively monitor trends and anomalies that may indicate changes to the environment or invalid initial assumptions.

To download the paper, visit https://www.sae.org/standards/content/avsc00011202307/.

For more information about the AVSC, visit https://avsc.sae-itc.org/.