The British Standards Institution (BSI), in partnership with the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), the Department for Transport (DfT), Innovate UK and Zenzic (formerly Meridian), have launched a pioneering program of standardization to support the safe deployment of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs).
The aim of the consortium’s program is to provide guidance and technical standards that will accelerate the safe and successful deployment of automated vehicles and promote UK capability in areas such as CAV design and testing. The new program will shape some of the emerging technical conversations around automated vehicles and promote the country’s thought leadership and influence through international standards development and collaboration. BSI has established a cross-stakeholder advisory board that pulls in the leading voices from the UK’s CAV ecosystem including test beds and companies involved in national CAV trials to identify where the industry needs standards. The program will consider standardization across areas such as safety, advanced testing, data, cyber security, CAV infrastructure, human factors and the deployment of automated vehicle services.
The first deliverables from the new program will be two Publicly Available Specifications: PAS 1880 and PAS 1881, relating to safety of automated vehicle development and testing. These are scheduled to be published in early 2020.
PAS 1880 will create guidelines for assessing the safety of control systems in automated vehicles from driverless pods to full production vehicles. It will help companies designing automated vehicles for use in trials and on public roads to assess with more confidence the safety-levels of their end-product, systems and components;
PAS 1881 will provide assurance to any concerned stakeholders that risks from CAV trials and testing have been adequately managed and will be informed by the work of the Zenzic self-driving hub.
“Successful deployment of automated vehicles in the UK depends on overcoming a wide range of challenges in infrastructure, public safety and changes to traditional automotive manufacturing, particularly in relation to software, sensors and new methods of validation and testing,” said Dr Scott Steedman, director of standards at BSI. “A set of strong, widely accepted standards will cement the UK’s global lead in this space and promote greater trust in these technologies. This important program of work will add to our existing portfolio of innovative standards in areas such as automotive cyber security, robot ethics and smart cities.”
The UK’s Future of Mobility Minister, Michael Ellis, said, “Self-driving vehicles have the potential to transform the way we travel, helping improve road safety while creating economic benefits. The introduction of these new standards will ensure safety remains our top priority, as we work to accelerate the successful introduction of exciting pioneering technology.”
Richard Porter, director of technology and innovation at Zenzic, said, “We believe that clear and commonly understood guidance on how to test self-driving vehicles is a critical enabler to accelerate their delivery and foster public acceptance. The BSI program perfectly complements the work that Zenzic with TRL and our UK Testbeds partners have done to ensure there is a unified safety framework across all UK testing and development facilities.”
