Traditional vehicle design frameworks in autonomous vehicle development

Fully autonomous vehicles are expected to revolutionise transportation, reduce the cost of ownership, contribute to a cleaner environment, and prevent the majority of traffic accidents and related fatalities. Even though promising approaches for achieving full autonomy exist, developers and manufacturers have to overcome a multitude of challenges before these systems could find widespread adoption. This multiple case study explored the strategies some hardware and software developers of self-driving cars use to adapt traditional vehicle design frameworks to their needs. Notable themes emerged around regulatory uncertainty, functional safety, rapid iteration, and achieving a competitive advantage. Some findings of the study include the need for better regulatory frameworks to provide certainty, consumer education to manage expectations and universal development standards that could integrate regulatory and design needs into a single approach.