Historical
UL 4600 Ed. 1-2020
Standard for Evaluation of Autonomous Products
The scope of this standard is a generalized autonomous system standard framework using light autonomous road vehicles as a concrete example. To that end, this version of the standard includes extensive prompt lists applicable to light autonomous road vehicles (both passenger and cargo vehicles). Many of the prompts will apply to other autonomous ground vehicles and even other types of autonomous systems, but no specific attempt has been made to include extensive prompts for other applications, nor to segregate road vehicle prompts from more general prompts. The approach taken in this standard (UL 4600) is to require a claim-based safety case that encompasses essentially the entirety of the material necessary for safety assurance. The safety case includes a structured set of claims, argument, and evidence supporting the proposition that an item (a vehicle plus all other support contributing to safety) is acceptably safe for deployment. In support of that goal, UL 4600 assessments emphasize ensuring that the safety case is reasonably complete and well formed. In particular, UL 4600 provides guidance to improve consistency and completeness of the safety case. To this end, some best-practice process activities and granular work products are specifically required (e.g., creation of a hazard log). However, no specific overall design process is mandated, nor are there mandates for specific methods used to create the majority of work products (e. g., a V-style development process is not required; any reasonable approach used to create a list of hazards can be acceptable). This standard does NOT define a process, but rather puts forth assessment criteria to determine the acceptability of a safety case. As such, the ordering of sections, clauses, and prompt elements does NOT imply temporal ordering or other process path dependencies.
Content Provider
Underwriters Laboratories [ul]
