Automotive and Mobility Industry Leaders Publish First-of-its-Kind Framework for Safe Automated Driving Systems

“Safety First for Automated Driving” (SaFAD) white paper emphasizes the importance of safety by design for automated vehicles

Emphasizing safety by design, 11 industry leaders across the automotive and automated driving technology spectrum today published “Safety First for Automated Driving,” (SaFAD), a non-binding organized framework for the development, testing and validation of safe automated passenger vehicles.

These 11 leaders — Aptiv, Audi, Baidu, BMW, Continental, Daimler, FCA US LLC, HERE, Infineon, Intel and Volkswagen — comprise the broadest representation across the industry and have published, to date, the largest report on how to build, test and operate a safe automated vehicle.

The SaFAD white paper authors’ purpose is to emphasize the importance of safety by design, along with verification and validation, as the industry works toward creating standards for automated driving.

For the first time, SaFAD offers automated vehicle (AV) developers and operators a system for clear traceability that proves AVs to be “safer than the average driver” through components such as cameras or steering systems.

It is also the first time presenting a summary of widely known safety-by-design and verification and validation methods of Level 3 and Level 4 automated driving as defined by the SAE (J3016).

The foundation of the SaFAD white paper is its 12 Guiding Principles, which are further refined into capabilities of the automated vehicle, from which safe-by-design elements are derived to support the capability and achieve the guiding principles. “Safety First for Automated Driving” combines the expertise from key companies in the automaker, supplier and technology industries to help direct development of safe automated vehicles.

Interest in and development of automated driving technology has grown at a dramatic rate over the past several years, fueled by the goal of reducing fatalities related to vehicle crashes, improvement of traffic flow and the introduction of new mobility concepts. This rapid growth brings a wide range of development methodologies from established companies and the growing roster of new enterprises.

With publication of “Safety First for Automated Driving,” authors and experts from each of the participating partners will present the group’s work at industry and technology conferences internationally over the next several months.

Note: In the spirit of collaboration, the companies are issuing a common press release. Journalists seeking more details are encouraged to contact one or more of the listed media contacts.

Aptiv Miranda Hlaing +1 (818) 632-8452 miranda.hlaing@aptiv.com

Audi Christian Hartmann +49 151 52844338 christian.hartmann@audi.de

Baidu Chen Yuwei chenyuwei01@baidu.com

BMW Group Bernhard Ederer +49-176-601-28556 Bernhard.Ederer@bmwgroup.com

Continental Sören Pinkow +49 (0)151 4385 7590 Soeren.pinkow@continental.com

Daimler Bernhard Weidemann +49 (0)176 30925108 bernhard.weidemann@daimler.com

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Dale Jewett +1 (248) 421-1986 dale.jewett@fcagroup.com

HERE Technologies Jordan Stark +1 (312) 316-4537 jordan.stark@here.com

Infineon Oliver Scharfenberg +49 (0)160 938 777 18 oliver.scharfenberg@infineon.com

Intel Robin Holt +1 (503) 616-1532 Robin.holt@intel.com

Volkswagen Eric Felber +49-511-798-4762 Eric.felber@volkswagen.de