Driving Safety
Forward Together
What inspired AVL and TNO to join forces for “safety valida-
tion and risk quantification”?
Kalisvaart: Well, the automated driving community has made
a huge step in AI and computing and sensor capabilities. But
the system complexity and real-world variability still makes
ensuring the safety of autonomous vehicles challenging.
Scharke: I agree. Another issue is navigating new regulations
and standards. Traditionally, these provided clear guidance.
Today, OEMs face two daunting tasks: demonstrating safe
driving and ensuring compliance for homologation.
What were the key questions that needed to be addressed?
Scharke: Firstly, the solution had to be based on a sound
methodology for use in various driving environments. Second-
ly, it had to be data driven. Safety claims can only be substan-
tiated with real world statistics.
Kalisvaart: So actually, three questions came up: How to
convert data into a computer-readable model of the world?
How to quantify safety risks through simulation? And how to
integrate this in an end-to-end software tool?
Can you outline some of the innovations you are proud of?
Kalisvaart: Sure. We found a scalable and modular frame-
work to model the world using scenario probabilities. Scalabil-
ity is important for customization. The probability and variabil-
ity statistics are crucial for estimating safety risk.
Scharke: We also managed to combine the methodology and
algorithms of TNO with the AVL data acquisition, simulation,
and reporting pipeline. It provides a seamless data flow from
driving data to a safety risk report.
Can you elaborate on the impact this will have on the
automotive industry?
Scharke: It accelerates the release process. In our industry,
where experienced automated driving safety experts are
scarce, this is crucial. Additionally, our solution attributes
safety risks to specific scenario categories, giving guidance
for prioritization and reaching the overall safety target.
Kalisvaart: And it helps authorities to accelerate the type
approval process through built-in compliance with standards
and regulations. Our approach uses the basic concepts from
existing UNECE/ISO standards and translates them to the
new regulation.
What can we expect in the near future?
Scharke: We have an initial functional implementation
focused on Automated Lane Keeping System (ALKS) maneu-
vers. Our next step is improving user-friendliness. Our open
toolchain already provides the basis for wider compatibility
with simulation packages, seamless data management, and
customization.
Kalisvaart: Clients require evidence of safety claims as well
as traceability to establish trust in the outcome. Our recent
addition includes a safety risk uncertainty metric; a confi-
dence indicator to measure the trustworthiness of the safety
validation outcome and to verify that enough data has been
collected.
AVL and TNO have teamed up for a safer future
and share their insights on safety validation
and risk quantification for automated vehicles.
Interview with
Sytze Kalisvaart, Product and Project Manager at TNO
Heiko Scharke, Global Product Manager at AVL
Find out more about AVL’s
and TNO’s cooperation
SPECIAL EDITION