SAE International, Ford, General Motors (GM) and Toyota have announced the formation of the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium (AVSC), which will work to safely advance testing, pre-competitive development and deployment of SAE Level 4 and 5 automated vehicles.

The AVSC will provide a safety framework that will foster the responsible evolution of autonomous technology before broad development, the entities say. They add that ultimately, the work will “inform and accelerate the development of industry standards” for autonomous vehicles (AVs), and harmonize with the efforts of other consortia and standards bodies throughout the world.

“Being able to advance the safe deployment of SAE Level 4 and Level 5 automated vehicles represents another exciting chapter in the realization of autonomous mobility and the benefits this will bring to people around the world,” says Edward Straub, DM, executive director of the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium.

“To achieve these benefits, industry collaboration, cohesion and flexibility to merge new ideas with proven safety processes are critical. This is why we are forming the AVSC and announcing our roadmap strategy.”

To establish a set of AV safety guiding principles that help inform standards development, the consortium will lean on the expertise of its current and future members. The first output from the consortium will be a roadmap of priorities that can be applicable for developers, manufacturers and integrators of automated vehicle technology. The roadmap will focus on data sharing, vehicle interaction with other road users and safe testing guidelines.

“We understand that autonomous vehicles need to operate safely and reliably in concert with infrastructure and other road users to earn the trust of the communities in which they are deployed,” says Randy Visintainer, chief technology officer, Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC.

“Our goal with the consortium is to work with industry and government partners to expedite development of standards that can lead to rule making.”

Meanwhile, SAE International will utilize the experience of its affiliate organization, SAE Industry Technologies Consortia (SAE ITC), to convene the members of the AVSC. SAE ITC has a plethora of experience when it comes to forming consortia that allow industry to quickly establish frameworks to address opportunities and challenges.

SAE International notes that the automotive industry is now leveraging SAE ITC’s aerospace industry-managed consortia model.