Sensor- and Environment Dependent Performance Adaptation for Maintaining Safety Requirements

Driving assistance or automated driving depends to a large extent on the correct perception of the environment. Because automated driving functions have to be proven safe under all operational conditions, worst-case assumptions concerning the sensors and also the environment have to be assumed. In this paper, we propose a scheme that allows taking weaker assumptions. This is based on a continuous assessment of the quality of sensor data, a model of the interaction between the control process and the environment and the possibility to adapt the performance. We present an example of a car autonomously driving a simple course and adapting its speed according to the environment and the confidence in the perceived sensor data. We derive a set of simple safety rules used to adjust performance that, in the case given in the example affects the cruising speed.