Operational design domain

Operational design domain (ODD) is a term for a set of operating conditions for an automated system, often used in the field of autonomous vehicles. TThese operating conditions include environmental, geographical and time of day constraints, traffic and roadway characteristics. The ODD is used by manufacturers to indicate where their product will operate safely.^[1]

The concept of ODD indicates that autonomated systems have limitations and that they should operate within predefined restrictions to ensure safety and performance.^[2] Defining an ODD is important for developers and regulators to establish clear expectations and communicate the intended operating conditions of automated systems.

ODD in standards

Definition	Source
"set of operating conditions under which a given driving automation system ... or feature thereof is specifically designed to function"	ISO/TS 14812:2022(en), 3.7.3.2^[3]
"operating conditions under which a given automated driving system ... or feature thereof is specifically designed to function, including, but not limited to, environmental, geographical, and time-of-day restrictions, and/or the requisite presence or absence of certain traffic or roadway characteristics"	ISO/TR 4804:2020(en), 3.37^[4]
"operating conditions under which a given driving automation system or feature thereof is specifically designed to function, including, but not limited to, environmental, geographical, and time-of-day restrictions, and/or the requisite presence or absence of certain traffic or roadway characteristics"	ISO 34501:2022(en), 3.26^[5]
"specific conditions under which a given driving automation system is designed to function"	ISO 21448:2022(en), 3.21^[6]
"set of environments and situations the item is to operate within"	ANSI/UL 4600^[7]

Structure of ODD

A report by US Department of Transportation subdivides an ODD description into six top-level categories and further immediate subcategories.^[8] The top-level categories are the physical infrastucture, operational constraints, objects, connectivity, environemental conditions and zones. The physical infrastructure includes subcategories for roadway types, surfaces, edges and geometry. The operational constraints include subcategories for speed limits and traffic conditions.

Examples

In 2022, Mercedes Benz announced a product with a new ODD, which is Level 3 autonomous driving at 130 km/h.^[9]

References

^ Lee, Chung Won; Nayeer, Nasif; Garcia, Danson Evan; Agrawal, Ankur; Liu, Bingbing (October 2020). "Identifying the Operational Design Domain for an Automated Driving System through Assessed Risk". 2020 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV): 1317–1322. doi:10.1109/IV47402.2020.9304552.
^ Erz, Jannis; Schütt, Barbara; Braun, Thilo; Guissouma, Houssem; Sax, Eric (April 2022). "Towards an Ontology That Reconciles the Operational Design Domain, Scenario-based Testing, and Automated Vehicle Architectures". 2022 IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon): 1–8. doi:10.1109/SysCon53536.2022.9773840.
^ "3.7.3.2". ISO/TS 14812:2022, Intelligent transport systems — Vocabulary. ISO. 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^ "3.22". ISO/TR 4804:2020, Road vehicles — Safety and cybersecurity for automated driving systems — Design, verification and validation. ISO. 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^ "3.26". ISO 34501:2022, Road vehicles — Test scenarios for automated driving systems — Vocabulary. ISO. 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^ "3.21". ISO 21448:2022, Road vehicles — Safety of the intended functionality. ISO. 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^ Peleska, Jan; Haxthausen, Anne E.; Lecomte, Thierry (2022). "Standardisation Considerations for Autonomous Train Control". Leveraging Applications of Formal Methods, Verification and Validation. Practice. Springer Nature Switzerland: 286–307. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-19762-8_22.
^ Thorn, Eric; Kimmel, Shawn C.; Chaka, Michelle (1 September 2018). "A Framework for Automated Driving System Testable Cases and Scenarios". Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^ Rocco, Nicolas La (12 August 2022). "Level-3-Fahren mit 130 km/h: Mercedes gestaltet nächste ODD für Drive Pilot aus". ComputerBase (in German). Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[1] Lee, Chung Won; Nayeer, Nasif; Garcia, Danson Evan; Agrawal, Ankur; Liu, Bingbing (October 2020). "Identifying the Operational Design Domain for an Automated Driving System through Assessed Risk". 2020 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV): 1317–1322. doi:10.1109/IV47402.2020.9304552.

[2] Erz, Jannis; Schütt, Barbara; Braun, Thilo; Guissouma, Houssem; Sax, Eric (April 2022). "Towards an Ontology That Reconciles the Operational Design Domain, Scenario-based Testing, and Automated Vehicle Architectures". 2022 IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon): 1–8. doi:10.1109/SysCon53536.2022.9773840.

[3] "3.7.3.2". ISO/TS 14812:2022, Intelligent transport systems — Vocabulary. ISO. 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[4] "3.22". ISO/TR 4804:2020, Road vehicles — Safety and cybersecurity for automated driving systems — Design, verification and validation. ISO. 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[5] "3.26". ISO 34501:2022, Road vehicles — Test scenarios for automated driving systems — Vocabulary. ISO. 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[6] "3.21". ISO 21448:2022, Road vehicles — Safety of the intended functionality. ISO. 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[7] Peleska, Jan; Haxthausen, Anne E.; Lecomte, Thierry (2022). "Standardisation Considerations for Autonomous Train Control". Leveraging Applications of Formal Methods, Verification and Validation. Practice. Springer Nature Switzerland: 286–307. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-19762-8_22.

[8] Thorn, Eric; Kimmel, Shawn C.; Chaka, Michelle (1 September 2018). "A Framework for Automated Driving System Testable Cases and Scenarios". Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[9] Rocco, Nicolas La (12 August 2022). "Level-3-Fahren mit 130 km/h: Mercedes gestaltet nächste ODD für Drive Pilot aus". ComputerBase (in German). Retrieved 11 June 2023.

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