Architecting Systems for Assured Autonomy

The promise of autonomous systems can positively impact many facets of human endeavors. This new future does come with significant risks and challenges. There exists a good amount of literature and news about autonomous systems failures that are comic but also tragic. A driving principle for autonomous systems must be that they will cause no harm, that they will operate in a reliable manner and that they can be ultimately trusted. A key item is to develop assurance of a system throughout its architecture. This article provides an overview of the development of assurance architectures as part of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency Assured Autonomy program.