The term safe state paints a picture of being secure, sheltered and guarded in one’s mind. To someone else it might be be associated with low-risk. Thus, the term safe state is a relative concept and debatable, and necessary guidelines have to be framed. The ISO26262 standard said that an arrangement or operating mode of a system can be considered safe when there is an absence of unreasonable risk. When such a system falls below the brink of what the society defines to be risk free both in present and in the future, then the system can be deemed as a safe state. This brink of safety must propose a value at and beyond which the system would fail to fall into a safe state according to social, law-abiding and ethical aspects. The gravity of a personal injury and the chances of its occurrence together influence the risk factor.
Safe state of operation of a vehicles is defined as a state where risk is fair and reasonable. It is a very challenging task to define safe state since the allowable level of risk varies from person to person, which makes it tough to identify the threshold of safety. The scenario in which the automated vehicle is operated determines the level of allowable risks.
- All types of driving decisions
- Use of dynamic objects with autonomous vehicles
- Legal obligations
- The assignment and power capacity of autonomous vehicle
The scenarios described above on comparison with the threshold value will determine if the automated vehicle can be considered as safe or not. According to ISO26262, the chances of occurrence of injury and the gravity of that injury must be evaluated for every situation. Also, for every situation the solution must also be derived. This solution is yet to be found by researchers around the globe.
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