An Open, Transparent, technology neutral

Industry-driven Approach to Safety

Jack Weast

Sr. Principal Engineer, Intel

VP Automated Vehicle Standards, Mobileye
Human Driving Today

The balance between safety & efficiency
What do humans do?
Explicit Traffic Rules

Establish priority of road agent interests 

to avoid collisions

• Come to complete stop 

at red lights

• Don’t cross a double-yellow line 

• Obey posted speed limits

• Yield to other road users 

when posted

Set limits on vehicle operation
ImplicitRules of the road

A general set of principles applied by the driver 

• Keep a safe distance from the car 

in front of you

• Drive cautiously under limited visibility

• Don’t drive slow in the fast lane

• Don’t cut off other drivers

Flexible, culturally dependent
ImplicitRules of the Road

Essential for Navigating Complex Scenarios
Digitizing Safe Driving

How do we formalize these 

concepts so AVs can 

safely and efficiently navigate?
Responsibility Sensitive Safety

An open, transparent, technology neutral safety model for autonomous driving

RSS digitizes the implicit rules of 

the road, providing a check on 

AV decision-making, and a 

technology-neutral performance 

benchmark for regulators
http://arxiv.org/abs/1708.06374

Keep a safe distance 

longitudinally

& laterally

Safe distance 

compromised in

both directions

Brake to restore 

safe longitudinal 

distance

Formalize

Human notions of

safe driving

Execute

The Appropriate Response

Identify

A Dangerous Situation
Rules of RSS

Rules to verify AV safety & performance

Do not hit someone from behind 1

Do not cut-in recklessly 2

Right-of-Way is given, not taken 3

Be careful in areas with limited visibility 4

If you can avoid a crash without causing another, you must 5
Act

Breaking DOWN RSS’s Architecture

Safety Envelope 

Defining the threshold between safety and danger

Determine the Proper Response

based on the rule that was violated

Doer-Checker

Proper 

response

Is my proposed 

action safe?

No

Am I in 

danger?

AI-Based 

Planner

Checker
What Determines safe Distance?

If the silver car slams on the brakes, 

how much space do I need to avoid hitting it?

Reaction 

time

Braking needed 

to avoid crash

Velocity Velocity 

Max braking 

capability

We determine safe distance 

based on the following parameters
What Determines safe Distance?

Any additional acceleration 

of the blue car during reaction time
Define 1 2
Derive

min

Does it work?

What’s the catch?
What’s the catch?
What is Bmax? 

Values for braking, acceleration, reaction time are not static,

but dynamic based on the situation.

How do we determine the reasonable expectations

of other agents?
Expectation #1: braking capability

Different cars have different braking.

Different braking means different stopping distances
Not all cars are created equal

12.57

12.45

10.17

9.67

8.84

8.19

2018 Porsche 911 GT31

2018 Corvette C6 Z061

2016 Mazda CX52

2016 Jeep Cherokee2

2015 Ford F1503

1996 Honda Civic4

max braking force (m/s2)

What should we assume for max as a result?

1 https://www.brembo.com/en/company/news/50-special 2 https://www.motortrend.com/cars/mazda/cx-5/2016/small-crossover-comparison-big-test/

3 https://special-reports.pickuptrucks.com/2015/01/2015-annual-physical-braking.html 4 https://www.motortrend.com/cars/honda/civic/1996/1996-honda-civic-ex-wrapup

Calculations were made using initial velocity, vi (100kph or 60mph) and stopping distances, d, with the formula: force= vi / ( d*( 2/vi ) )
Not all cars are created equal

30.70

31.00

35.36

37.19

40.70

43.90

2018 Porsche 911 GT31

2018 Corvette C6 Z061

2016 Mazda CX52

2016 Jeep Cherokee2

2015 Ford F1503

1996 Honda Civic4

stopping distance (m)

A Porsche stops 13m sooner than a Civic

1 https://www.brembo.com/en/company/news/50-special 2 https://www.motortrend.com/cars/mazda/cx-5/2016/small-crossover-comparison-big-test/

3 https://special-reports.pickuptrucks.com/2015/01/2015-annual-physical-braking.html 4 https://www.motortrend.com/cars/honda/civic/1996/1996-honda-civic-ex-wrapup

Calculations were made using initial velocity, vi (100kph or 60mph) and stopping distances, d, with the formula: force= vi / ( d*( 2/vi ) )
Expectation #2: traffic violations

Sometimes breaking a traffic rule is socially 

acceptable, and can be the safer choice
share the road

We typically forgive drivers that violate the rules in this context

Will we grant autonomous vehicles the same forgiveness?
Expectation #3: Objects in the road

When tire treads, debris, and other things can 

appear in the blink of an eye, what do we do?
When we have the space

?

Our proper response can be an evasive maneuver

What if we do not have the space?
If we don’t, we may have no choice

?

So the question remains:

How should AVs respond to these scenarios?
Expectation #4: Pedestrians

How the traits of the road dictate our 

assumptions about pedestrian behavior
Neighborhoods without sidewalks

Are likely to have people 

walking along & playing in the street
Neighborhoods with Sidewalks

Pull people away from the street, allowing 

cars to safely operate at higher speeds
RSS: A Formal Model for AV Safety

RSS can help answer important questions for AVs:

What does it mean to drive safely?

What constitutes a dangerous situation?

What is the proper response to a dangerous situation?

What does it mean to be reasonably cautious?

What assumptions can the AV make about the behavior of others?

A mathematical model that formalizes common notions of safe driving
Assess safety performance of AVs

In the hands of regulators, 

RSS provides an objective, 

technology neutral, 

performance benchmark
Announcing...
C++11 RSS Library

• Longitudinal scenarios • Same and opposite direction

• Lateral scenarios &

Multilane roads

• Intersection handling

Standalone Open Source Library currently covering a 

subset of RSS rules

1

2

3

1

2

3

https://intel.github.io/ad-rss-lib/
C++ RSS Library overview

R e a l V e h i c l e o r S i mu l a to r

World Modeling

Plan

Perception Driving Behavior

Sense

Extract RSS 

World Model

Receive 

Sensor Data

A D R SS L I B

Extract 

Situations

Check

Situations

Resolve

Responses

Transform

Response

Create Actuator

Commands

Enforce RSS

Restrictions

Act

User 

Implementation

User 

Implementation
AV Safety: An issue larger than one company

What are we doing

industry

Engaging with customers, 

competitors and consortia to have 

an open dialogue on AV safety

academia

RSS Research Centers at 

Universities in USA, PRC and EU

Government / NGO’s

Understanding government 

expectations on transparency and 

verification of AV safety

Real world

Deploying RSS in our on AV Fleet 

in very challenging environments
2018 Rand Report: 

Measuring Automated Vehicle Safety

Contacts:

Marjory Blumenthal: 

marjory@rand.org

Laura Fraade-Blanar: 

lblanar@rand.org

James Anderson: 

janderso@rand.org

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2662.html 41
42
Drive safely 

Intel, Mobileye, and the Mobileye logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation or 

its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries.

(C) Intel Corporation

Jack Weast

Sr. Principal Engineer, Intel

VP Automated Vehicle Standards, Mobileye

jack.weast@intel.com