Functional Safety Analysis for Infrastructure-Enabled Depot Autonomy System

TL;DR

This paper conducts a comprehensive functional safety analysis of an infrastructure-enabled depot automation system for autonomous vehicles, identifying hazards, safety goals, and safety integrity levels to ensure safe deployment.

Contribution

It introduces a safety analysis framework for depot automation systems using ISO 26262 standards, highlighting safety requirements for different operational scenarios.

Findings

High-speed operation requires ASIL C safety measures.

Controlled low-speed operation reduces safety requirements to QM.

Six safety goals are established for system components.

Abstract

This paper presents the functional safety analysis for an Infrastructure-Enabled Depot Autonomy (IX-DA) system. The IX-DA system automates the marshalling of delivery vehicles within a controlled depot environment, navigating connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) between drop-off zones, service stations (washing, calibration, charging, loading), and pick-up zones without human intervention. We describe the system architecture comprising three principal subsystems -- the connected autonomous vehicle, the infrastructure sensing and compute layer, and the human operator interface -- and derive their functional requirements. Using ISO 26262-compliant Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA) methodology, we identify eight hazardous events, evaluate them across different operating scenarios, and assign Automotive Safety Integrity Levels~(ASILs) ranging from Quality Management (QM) to ASIL C. Six safety goals are derived and allocated to vehicle and infrastructure subsystems. The analysis demonstrates that high-speed uncontrolled operation imposes the most demanding safety requirements (ASIL C), while controlled low-speed operation reduces most goals to QM, offering a practical pathway for phased deployment.