Preliminary hazard analyses: a case study of advanced vehicle control and safety systems

To realize the benefits of advanced vehicle vontrol and safety systems (AVCSS), there is a need to establish the procedures and methodologies for safety assessment. AVCSS involves several safety critical functions such as vehicle longitudinal and lateral control. INRETS (French institute of research in the transports and their safety) and California PATH (Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways) of University of California at Berkeley collaborate by using a case study related to a significant part of the advanced vehicle control and safety of systems (AVCSS) to develop and to set up a common approach for developing and validating a safe and operating system. The paper deals with the preliminary hazard analysis, which is the first step of this collaboration. The list of hazards related to the system and the global safety objectives to be allocated to the system is presented with the acceptable limit of the number of catastrophic accidents. This presentation shows the adaptation of safety principles on the railway (e.g. GAMAB, ALARP and MEM) to the AVCSS system. Hazard assessment and risk management issues are discussed. Hazards associated with exemplar safety functions are identified