Vehicle Automation Framework: Toward Autonomy

The integration of automation processes and resources in vehicles used for human mobility has been happening in a continuous and systematic way. Historically, it is possible to observe that the pilot's involvement in the execution of the flight activities has been reduced proportionally in relation to the increase of resources and automation systems in the cockpit. At the beginning of this transfer process, automation was used for simple tasks that required great physical effort, speed or precision in execution. Later, automation started to be used also trying to replace more complex functions related to the pilot's sensory, cognitive and decision-making abilities. In this phase, however, the transfer of tasks between pilot and automation is no longer a linear process, in the sense that a significant increase in automation resources in the cockpit is now required for small reductions in pilot involvement. Based on these observations, this article proposes the definition of an adequate logical infrastructure to serve as a tool for the design and implementation of logical solutions for advanced vehicle automation. The intention is that this logical infrastructure, here named Vehicle Automation Framework, or VFA, offers a flexible and structured environment with the capacity to support the development of high-level automation solutions, up to the limit of vehicle autonomy. This logical framework presents an architecture formed by two independent and overlapping logical layers, where one layer is dedicated to the hosting of programmable vehicle control functions, while the other layer houses supervision and decision support functions.