Gatik lifts the bar on autonomous safety validation

How safe is safe enough for autonomous vehicles (AVs) to operate on public roadways? Policies vary from one market to the next, but the prevailing approach in the US has been self-certification. Under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Voluntary Safety Self-Assessment process, the companies that develop the AVs are the same ones that confirm they meet federal safety guidelines. Individual states, only some of which allow driverless vehicle operation on roadways, have various permitting processes, some of which involve safety testing and the provision of other information—again, provided by the developer.

Gatik believes that a more comprehensive and independent form of safety assessment is needed to ensure the success of autonomous transportation. The US company’s self-driving system has been powering commercial middle-mile logistics operations over the past few years, with the customer list including such big names as Walmart, Kroger, and Loblaws. To date, these vehicles have included a safety driver in the cab, but the company aims to launch Freight-Only operations (its term for autonomous driving without a safety driver) by the end of 2025. “We are now on the precipice of a substantial step in terms of scale, and with that comes another level of rigorous safety,” says Adam Campbell, Gatik’s Head of Safety.