Determining the Readiness of Automated Driving Systems for Public Operation: Development of Behavioral Competency Requirements

Abstract

Automated driving systems (ADSs) present several challenges to the existing regulatory framework for road vehicles at both the national and the state level. NHTSA has been primarily responsible for automotive safety, and states have been responsible for the regulations that govern vehicle registration and the training, evaluation, and licensing of drivers. Regulatory development has been further complicated by NHTSA’s deciding to proceed cautiously and deliberatively, and several state legislatures have pushed for the rapid adoption of state regulations in advance of federal regulations. One of the key challenges in this process has been balancing the need to protect public safety without federal or industry standards, while still encouraging an innovation in technology that could ultimately lead to large improvements in transportation safety, efficiency, and convenience. This paper provides an update on the progress and ongoing challenges in developing regulations for the deployment of ADSs to the public in the state of California. In prior work, the authors postulated that ADS safety would depend on both behavioral competency and functional safety. The focus of this paper is to expand on the method used and the results of the authors’ earlier work to establish minimum behavioral competency requirements for ADSs to be deployed on public roads. The behavioral competencies described in this paper provide a starting point for specifying the minimum ADS performance requirements and the testing procedures needed to verify that those requirements have been met.