ISO/TC 241 - Road traffic safety management systems

This document gives guidance on ethical considerations with regards to road traffic safety of autonomous vehicles (AVs). It is applicable to vehicles in level 5 mode according to SAE J3016 in 2022, as part of its report. This document does not apply to the technical method used to control the decision-making process, nor does it give any guidance on the desired outcomes of those decisions; it gives guidance on ethical aspects for consideration in the design of decision-making process. This document does not set requirements for the outcomes of ethical decisions, nor does it offer guidance on methodology. It only details aspects of the behaviour of AVs for which considerations may be made by the designer/manufacturer to ensure that key aspects are not overlooked or disregarded. This document does not offer the technical precision to prescribe the required controls but would, rather, offer a set of “protocol guidelines” that all decision makers regarding automated driving could choose to self-certify against to assure that the desired necessary ethical considerations were addressed during design and effectively controlled.

This document provides guidelines for good practices that can be adopted by organizations for the implementation of commuting safety management. These practices are intended to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries, the severity of injuries, and further to minimize damage to property and economic loss due to road crashes. This document is applicable to any organization to help it protect commuters including vulnerable road users (VRU) through the adoption of a proactive approach to manage commuting risks. This document is also applicable to commercial transport organizations including fleet operators, as well as schools.

ISO 39001:2012 specifies requirements for a road traffic safety (RTS) management system to enable an organization that interacts with the road traffic system to reduce death and serious injuries related to road traffic crashes which it can influence. The requirements in ISO 39001:2012 include development and implementation of an appropriate RTS policy, development of RTS objectives and action plans, which take into account legal and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, and information about elements and criteria related to RTS that the organization identifies as those which it can control and those which it can influence.