Certification for Autonomous Vehicles

The landscape of certification in the auto industry reflects the necessity to keep consumers safe. Currently, certification of new vehicles depends on an ability to pass rigorous testing of components for durability and reliability in case of a crash. There currently exist no definitive standards that dictate best practices for software found in vehicles and responses to autonomous technology in vehicles are only just beginning to emerge. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the United States has asserted itself at the vanguard of addressing new safety concerns that arise with the introduction of such new technologies. This paper discusses relevant modern standards that may pertain to autonomous vehicles and aims to highlight their shortcomings. Additionally, this paper explores the possibility of using existing standards in the avionics industry as a model for new standards in the automotive industry. Finally, this paper explains how techniques in formal methods could be used to alleviate some of the problems of testing complex systems.