BSI, the business improvement company and the UK national standard body, is inviting comments on PAS 1881 Assuring safety for automated vehicle trials and testing, a new industry specification for driverless pods, cars and trucks. The specification is designed to ensure automated vehicle trials and on-road tests meet with industry good practice on safety and risk management.

PAS 1881 has been developed with TRL (Transport Research Laboratory) and with the involvement of organisations ranging from software and automotive engineering companies to local government, transport authorities and testbeds including:  Connected Places Catapult, Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure, Five AI, Highways England, Horiba MIRA, Loughborough University, Millbrook Proving Ground, Oxbotica, Oxfordshire County Council, Potenza, Royal Borough of Greenwich, University of Warwick, Transport for London, UK Atomic Energy Authority and Adelard.  

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Nick Fleming, head of transport and mobility at BSI said: "We welcome comments on this draft specification, the first of its kind globally.

The PAS will help organisations involved in running CAV trials and testing on public roads to demonstrate a consistent approach to safety and provide confidence that risks have been managed."

The consultation version will be available for comment online until 1 November.

A partner document titled PAS 1880: Guidelines for developing and assessing control systems for automated vehicles, is also due to reach consultation stage in late October with further new activities to be announced. The two PAS documents will publish in early 2020.

They are part of a two-year connected and automated vehicles programme supported by the UK government's Centre for Connected and Automated Vehicles, the Department for Transport, Innovate UK and Zenzic. The programme aims to develop the technical standards and guidance to help accelerate the safe deployment of automated vehicles on UK roads and promote UK capability in areas such as testing and design. It will complement existing government guidance on running autonomous vehicle trials.

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