Tactical Safety for Autonomous Vehicles on Highways

A general risk assessment in traffic requires that three major factors are taken into account: Exposure to a dangerous situation, Controllability in this situation, and Severity of the damage caused if the situation is not controlled. Significant safety improvements have historically been achieved by focusing on Severity and Controllability through “passive safety” and “active safety” strategies, respectively. On top of these ever-improving strategies, Autonomous Driving offers the opportunity to further improve safety by reducing Exposure to dangerous situations through anticipatory, precautious, and cooperative behavior. The prerequisites for this behavior, known as “tactical safety”, are the main focus of this chapter. In particular, the need to take this risk component into account when driving fast on motorways is covered. Further, scenarios for the targeted introduction and verification of tactical safety behavior are also proposed.