Working Party on Automated and Connected Vehicles | Session 11 | 27 Sep-1 Oct 2021
Web conference
Agenda Item 4. (a)
Deliverables of the Informal Working Group on Functional Requirements for Automated and Autonomous Vehicles

20. The expert from the United States of America, Co-Chair of the IWG on Functional Requirements for Automated and Autonomous Vehicles (FRAV), presented the informal group’s status report (GRVA-11-25). He referred to a consolidation of FRAV working documents (GRVA-11-24) that presented current elements of the FRAV discussions. He explained that GRVA-11-24 reflected work in progress, including elements still under review, that this document followed the FRAV framework for safety requirements covering all ADS configurations, intended uses, and limitations on use (such as Operational Design Domain (ODD) constraints). He continued that the framework was based on manufacturer descriptions of each ADS with provisions to ensure uniformity and measurable/verifiable ODD specifications. He detailed that the safety requirements were structured for application to each ADS based on the manufacturer description and that FRAV was pursuing an approach (a) to user safety based on the roles users may play during a given trip (e.g., passenger, fallback user, driver) and (b) to ADS interactions with other road users based on detection of object properties that enable object recognition and classification at a level sufficient to determine the appropriate response(s). He reported that FRAV was first developing safety requirements at a general level and anticipated working in parallel with the IWG on Validation Method for Automated Driving (VMAD) to develop technical specifications for these requirements. He highlighted the close relationship between performance requirements and the scenarios used to assess performance (i.e., the requirements ensure safe ADS navigation of the nominal and safety-critical traffic scenarios developed by VMAD) and in this regard, the increasing FRAV collaboration with VMAD (as expected). He mentioned the corresponding three workstreams on the performance of the Dynamic Driving Task (DDT), interactions with other road users, lighting and the new workstream related to data collection together with the IWG on Data Storage System for Automated Driving (DSSAD)/ Event Data Recorder (EDR). He reported that FRAV had sent initial recommendations to the EDR/DSSAD informal group on data collection for ADS as requested, and that FRAV expected to provide further input, including examples for applying its recommendations. He concluded by mentioning that this work on data collection may also be relevant to the VMAD work on ADS in-service monitoring and reporting.

21. The expert from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland asked whether means to increase transparency on the workstreams could be identified. He explained that there were many meetings, that were difficult to follow.

22. The expert from the United States of America answered that the group was carefully addressing this point, making sure that the workstreams would not work aside of FRAV. He explained that the workstreams were informal and dynamic, to address specific technical details, and that their work was fully discussed in plenary FRAV sessions.

Documentation
GRVA-11-24 (IWG FRAV) : Consolidation of working papers "document 5"
GRVA-11-25 (IWG FRAV): Status report