Rolf Jung

Haichuan Li, Liguo Zhou, Zhenshan Bing et al.

Several autonomous driving strategies have been applied to autonomous vehicles, especially in the collision avoidance area. The purpose of collision avoidance is achieved by adjusting the trajectory of autonomous vehicles (AV) to avoid intersection or overlap with the trajectory of surrounding vehicles. A large number of sophisticated vision algorithms have been designed for target inspection, classification, and other tasks, such as ResNet, YOLO, etc., which have achieved excellent performance in vision tasks because of their ability to accurately and quickly capture regional features. However, due to the variability of different tasks, the above models achieve good performance in capturing small regions but are still insufficient in correlating the regional features of the input image with each other. In this paper, we aim to solve this problem and develop an algorithm that takes into account the advantages of CNN in capturing regional features while establishing feature correlation between regions using variants of attention. Finally, our model achieves better performance in the test set of L5Kit compared to the other vision models. The average number of collisions is 19.4 per 10000 frames of driving distance, which greatly improves the success rate of collision avoidance.

Milin Patel, Rolf Jung

Safety of the Intended Functionality (SOTIF) addresses sensor performance limitations and deep learning-based object detection insufficiencies to ensure the intended functionality of Automated Driving Systems (ADS). This paper presents a methodology examining the adaptability and performance evaluation of the 3D object detection methods on a LiDAR point cloud dataset generated by simulating a SOTIF-related Use Case. The major contributions of this paper include defining and modelling a SOTIF-related Use Case with 21 diverse weather conditions and generating a LiDAR point cloud dataset suitable for application of 3D object detection methods. The dataset consists of 547 frames, encompassing clear, cloudy, rainy weather conditions, corresponding to different times of the day, including noon, sunset, and night. Employing MMDetection3D and OpenPCDET toolkits, the performance of State-of-the-Art (SOTA) 3D object detection methods is evaluated and compared by testing the pre-trained Deep Learning (DL) models on the generated dataset using Average Precision (AP) and Recall metrics.

Milin Patel, Rolf Jung, Marzana Khatun

In the automobile industry, ensuring the safety of automated vehicles equipped with the Automated Driving System (ADS) is becoming a significant focus due to the increasing development and deployment of automated driving. Automated driving depends on sensing both the external and internal environments of a vehicle, utilizing perception sensors and algorithms, and Electrical/Electronic (E/E) systems for situational awareness and response. ISO 21448 is the standard for Safety of the Intended Functionality (SOTIF) that aims to ensure that the ADS operate safely within their intended functionality. SOTIF focuses on preventing or mitigating potential hazards that may arise from the limitations or failures of the ADS, including hazards due to insufficiencies of specification, or performance insufficiencies, as well as foreseeable misuse of the intended functionality. However, the challenge lies in ensuring the safety of vehicles despite the limited availability of extensive and systematic literature on SOTIF. To address this challenge, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on SOTIF for the ADS is performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The objective is to methodically gather and analyze the existing literature on SOTIF. The major contributions of this paper are: (i) presenting a summary of the literature by synthesizing and organizing the collective findings, methodologies, and insights into distinct thematic groups, and (ii) summarizing and categorizing the acknowledged limitations based on data extracted from an SLR of 51 research papers published between 2018 and 2023. Furthermore, research gaps are determined, and future research directions are proposed.

Milin Patel, Rolf Jung

Uncertainty in LiDAR sensor-based object detection arises from environmental variability and sensor performance limitations. Representing these uncertainties is essential for ensuring the Safety of the Intended Functionality (SOTIF), which focuses on preventing hazards in automated driving scenarios. This paper presents a systematic approach to identifying, classifying, and representing uncertainties in LiDAR-based object detection within a SOTIF-related scenario. Dempster-Shafer Theory (DST) is employed to construct a Frame of Discernment (FoD) to represent detection outcomes. Conditional Basic Probability Assignments (BPAs) are applied based on dependencies among identified uncertainty sources. Yager's Rule of Combination is used to resolve conflicting evidence from multiple sources, providing a structured framework to evaluate uncertainties' effects on detection accuracy. The study applies variance-based sensitivity analysis (VBSA) to quantify and prioritize uncertainties, detailing their specific impact on detection performance.