Guidance on the Safety Assurance of Autonomous Systems in Complex Environments (SACE)
For developers and regulators of autonomous systems, this provides a structured approach to safety assurance, but it is a methodological contribution without empirical validation.
The paper introduces a methodology (SACE) for safety assurance of autonomous systems in complex environments, providing safety case patterns and a process to integrate safety assurance and generate evidence. It aims to justify acceptable safety for autonomous systems in applications like driving and medical use.
Autonomous systems (AS) are systems that have the capability to take decisions free from direct human control. AS are increasingly being considered for adoption for applications where their behaviour may cause harm, such as when used for autonomous driving, medical applications or in domestic environments. For such applications, being able to ensure and demonstrate (assure) the safety of the operation of the AS is crucial for their adoption. This can be particularly challenging where AS operate in complex and changing real-world environments. Establishing justified confidence in the safety of AS requires the creation of a compelling safety case. This document introduces a methodology for the Safety Assurance of Autonomous Systems in Complex Environments (SACE). SACE comprises a set of safety case patterns and a process for (1) systematically integrating safety assurance into the development of the AS and (2) for generating the evidence base for explicitly justifying the acceptable safety of the AS.