Verifying Autonomous Driving Functions in Regards to Traffic Laws and Regulations to Improve Safety and Compliance in Mobility
A Project between Bosch and Kontrol
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EDITOR: TIMO LINNEMANN
The development dynamics in the broader field of autonomous and connected driving remain high. To be able to exploit the potential of these technologies and to enable society and economy to participate, it is necessary to reach a new level of trust and functionality. A crucial factor is to ensure traffic law and avoid legal issues in order to increase the safety of autonomous systems and enable true autonomy.
T he challenge: How to ensure that products comply with standards, regulations, and laws? When Bosch and Kontrol first met at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), this was the question that needed to be answered. The concept: to translate all relevant standards, regulations and laws into a machine-readable format and to implement them into the vehicle system. This approach ensures constant monitoring and therefore works as a proof of the conformity. The two parties decided to launch a project to see how Kontrol’s runtime verification technology (KoPilot) can add value to a Bosch system by verifying autonomous driving functions are compliant with Austrian traffic laws. The scope of the project was to implement two simple rules, extended lane departure warning and speed limit check, and one ambiguous rule, safe longitudinal distance. Those mechanisms are designed to warn the driver when the vehicle begins to move out of its lane, the speed limit is exceeded and also to control safe distance between two vehicles.
The Project
The four-month project started in November 2020. As a first step a use case had to be defined: A subset of the ALKS regulation consisting of lane departure warning and lane centering assistant and some relevant laws for level 3 driving of the Austrian road traffic act (StVO) served as starting points. Kontrol provided a simulation model which was implemented in Bosch’s existing simulation environment. Relevant rules — paragraphs from the road traffic act – were transformed into a formal language for the Kontrol KoPilot and then connected to Bosch’s simulation environment. The next step was testing and evaluating the KoPilot’s functionality to validate the provided input scenarios and finally providing feedback into Bosch’s. simulation environment for the traffic act compliance.
Outcome & Future Outlook
The results of the project were successful implementation rules for
the relevant ODD :
▶ Extended lane departure warning
▶ Speed limit check
▶ Safe longitudinal distance
The implemented solution was tested and verified by Bosch’s team in the simulation environment. Once the concept of runtime verification was proven, TÜV Rheinland joined the project to expand the scope by working on a proposal for a certification roadmap for autonomous vehicles to meet current legislation and market expectations. The result of the project was the successful integration into Bosch’s simulation environment and proof of the technical feasibility in general. A next step would be the integration in a real life automated driving environment in order to deeper assess and validate the technology.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Stefan Kriso (Bosch),
and Andreas Lauringer (Kontrol).
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Plug and Play Tech Center, Mercedes-Benz AG, ARENA2036, University of Stuttgart, ZF, DXC Technology, Porsche, BASF, Webasto, Motherson, DPDHL, Bosch, Schaeffler, STMicroelectronics, Murata, AGC, Hyundai, Linde, BP, Wieland, Faurecia, Eberspächer, ADAC, Sekisui, Plastic Omnium, Zenzic, Maxion, Novelis, ITT, Grupo Antolin, Huf Group, CEAT
Contact for this project
Timo Linnemann, Ventures Associate, STARTUP AUTOBAHN powered by Plug and Play, timo@pnptc.com
Sebastian Tietz, Director Open Innovation, Bosch Sebastian.Tietz@de.bosch.com
