200
Sensemaking in Safety Critical and Complex Situations
autonomy on roaD
Cities worldwide are increasingly testing and implementing autonomy as the pace
of autonomous vehicle innovation picks up. Norway has l ong-term experiences of
autonomous transport systems such as Automated Guided Vehicles ( AGVs) at St.
Olav Hospital and autonomous shuttle buses used from January 2018 on public roads.
Projects with autonomous vehicles ( AVs): Local governments must approve
s elf-driving pilots. In the US, in California, all companies must deliver annual
self-reports on incidents with highly automated vehicles. ( This is one of the reasons why Uber and many other companies moved the testing of self-driving taxis
to Arizona that has adopted a more liberal attitude.) This framework condition, i.e.
legislation in California, has enabled the industry to document the level of safety and
identify challenges.
Related to the present development trends, there are two clear trends that are different in nature:
1. a race to develop fully AVs, i.e. self-driving cars, aiming to replace today’s
private cars.
2. an effort to develop fully AVs to provide mobility-a s-a- service (M AAS) or
robotaxis.
The aim of the private self-driving car segment is to operate more safely than human
drivers are able to in real-world conditions and at high speed. Here, the self-driving
cars must be able to handle all types of obstacles and interactions with other road
users in all kinds of weather and traffic conditions.
The MAAS segment focusses on small shuttle buses ( or robotaxis) with geofencing to establish a safe route. Many of these are unable to go around an obstacle.
They stop until the obstacle has moved or been removed. They operate at low speeds
between 12 and 30 km/ h.
There are many projects with self-driving vehicles on public roads operating
around the world. According to Philantropies ( 2017), at least 53 cities are currently
involved in testing AVs. Legal frameworks for the regulation of pilot testing are
established in Singapore, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK ( KMPG, 2018). Euro
NCAP has designed a set of test procedures for testing automated vehicles on SAE
level 2. The US Department of Transportation has developed a framework (N HTSA,
2018) for testing automated driving systems focussing on failure behaviour, failure
mitigation strategies and fail-safe mechanisms.
AGVs at St. Olav Hospital have been in operation since 2006. Today, 21 AGVs
operate at a speed of approximately 2 km/h ( m ax speed is 5 km/h ) and communicate
with each other, open doors and reserve elevators. The automation is quite simple as they
follow a predefined path, and when there are conflicts or problems with collisions/ doors/
elevators, a signal is given to the operational centre, always manned by an operator who
can intervene or go to the place. Manned operators in the centre are necessary to ensure
continuous operations. Even in this strict operational envelope, humans are critical components in the loop. Sensemaking has been in focus, examples are that the AGVs are
“ speaking” to hindrances/ people – saying “ please move” or “ this elevator is reserved”.
Sensemaking in Safety Critical and Complex Situations
autonomy on roaD
Cities worldwide are increasingly testing and implementing autonomy as the pace
of autonomous vehicle innovation picks up. Norway has l ong-term experiences of
autonomous transport systems such as Automated Guided Vehicles ( AGVs) at St.
Olav Hospital and autonomous shuttle buses used from January 2018 on public roads.
Projects with autonomous vehicles ( AVs): Local governments must approve
s elf-driving pilots. In the US, in California, all companies must deliver annual
self-reports on incidents with highly automated vehicles. ( This is one of the reasons why Uber and many other companies moved the testing of self-driving taxis
to Arizona that has adopted a more liberal attitude.) This framework condition, i.e.
legislation in California, has enabled the industry to document the level of safety and
identify challenges.
Related to the present development trends, there are two clear trends that are different in nature:
1. a race to develop fully AVs, i.e. self-driving cars, aiming to replace today’s
private cars.
2. an effort to develop fully AVs to provide mobility-a s-a- service (M AAS) or
robotaxis.
The aim of the private self-driving car segment is to operate more safely than human
drivers are able to in real-world conditions and at high speed. Here, the self-driving
cars must be able to handle all types of obstacles and interactions with other road
users in all kinds of weather and traffic conditions.
The MAAS segment focusses on small shuttle buses ( or robotaxis) with geofencing to establish a safe route. Many of these are unable to go around an obstacle.
They stop until the obstacle has moved or been removed. They operate at low speeds
between 12 and 30 km/ h.
There are many projects with self-driving vehicles on public roads operating
around the world. According to Philantropies ( 2017), at least 53 cities are currently
involved in testing AVs. Legal frameworks for the regulation of pilot testing are
established in Singapore, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK ( KMPG, 2018). Euro
NCAP has designed a set of test procedures for testing automated vehicles on SAE
level 2. The US Department of Transportation has developed a framework (N HTSA,
2018) for testing automated driving systems focussing on failure behaviour, failure
mitigation strategies and fail-safe mechanisms.
AGVs at St. Olav Hospital have been in operation since 2006. Today, 21 AGVs
operate at a speed of approximately 2 km/h ( m ax speed is 5 km/h ) and communicate
with each other, open doors and reserve elevators. The automation is quite simple as they
follow a predefined path, and when there are conflicts or problems with collisions/ doors/
elevators, a signal is given to the operational centre, always manned by an operator who
can intervene or go to the place. Manned operators in the centre are necessary to ensure
continuous operations. Even in this strict operational envelope, humans are critical components in the loop. Sensemaking has been in focus, examples are that the AGVs are
“ speaking” to hindrances/ people – saying “ please move” or “ this elevator is reserved”.