Assuring Responsible Driving of Autonomous Vehicles

This paper discusses main factors which establish responsible driving and the consequences for technical provisions, which are needed to support evidence of responsible behavior in autonomous driving. It relates these arguments to the concept of Tactical Safety: act early and proactively in traffic situations, in order to avoid non-controllable situations with possibly high accident severity. A continuous safety score, which serves to measure danger as the distance to a collision, is an essential utility for vigilant monitoring and gentle intervention previous to criticality. As a second prerequisite, a dependable communication community for traffic, road and environmental conditions enables early recognition of conditions for possible dangers beyond the accessible range of onboard sensors. Finally, the combination of those aspects for the safety assurance of autonomous vehicles is discussed.