A Framework for Precautionary Safety for Automated Driving Systems—Toward Tactical Decisions Fulfilling Quantitative Risk Acceptance Criteria

Journal article, 2026

Safety of Automated Driving Systems (ADSs) is arguably one of the main remaining barriers before widespread market deployment. While there exists a plethora of methods for planning a trajectory that fulfils certain constraints, what those constraints should look like, to enable effective planning of safe trajectories, is still being discussed. In this article, we generalize the concept of Precautionary Safety (PCS) and present a framework providing constraints on the tactical and operational decisions of the ADS. Such constraints consider the ADS’ capabilities, the external conditions, knowledge of statistically relevant events and behaviors of other traffic actors, as well as the controllability of these events. The proposed framework enables assessment of the statistical fulfilment of quantitative risk acceptance criteria (QRACs), including requirements on accident, injury, and fatality rates. The framework further provides a means to dynamically adapt the constraints used for trajectory planning, i.e., to adapt the driving to the situation at hand. A case study, considering a possible collision scenario with a jaywalking pedestrian and a rear-end collision with a trailing vehicle, is provided to showcase the applicability and usefulness of the presented framework. The simulation-based case study displays the safety benefits from considering QRACs with multiple injury risk levels and further shows how the proposed PCS framework can be applied in practice.