Emphasizing safety by design, 11 industry leaders across the automotive and automated driving technology spectrum today published “Safety First for Automated Driving,” (SaFAD), a non-binding organized framework for the development, testing and validation of safe automated passenger vehicles.

Aptiv, Audi, Baidu, BMW, Continental, Daimler, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, HERE, Infineon, Intel and Volkswagen released the SaFAD white paper, aimed at emphasizing the importance of safety by design, along with verification and validation, as the industry works toward creating standards for automated driving.

“In order to reach safe and consistent global development and deployment of automated vehicles, it is critical that we work across our space, with other industry leaders and regulators, to develop an universal safety criteria for automated vehicles.” Says Dr. Michael Hafner, Head of Drive Technologies and Automated Driving at Mercedes-Benz Cars Development (Daimler AG).

SaFAD offers automated vehicle (AV) developers and operators a system for clear traceability that proves AVs to be “safer than the average driver” through components such as cameras or steering systems.

It is also the first time presenting a summary of widely known safety-by-design and verification and validation methods of Level 3 and Level 4 automated driving as defined by the SAE (J3016).

The foundation of the SaFAD white paper is its 12 Guiding Principles, which are further refined into capabilities of the automated vehicle, from which safe-by-design elements are derived to support the capability and achieve the guiding principles. “Safety First for Automated Driving” combines the expertise from key companies in the automaker, supplier and technology industries to help direct development of safe automated vehicles.

Authors and experts from each of the participating partners will present the group’s work at industry and technology conferences internationally over the next several months.