A Survey of Decision-Making Safety Assessment Methods for Autonomous Vehicles.

How to drive safely in complex real-world traffic settings has long been a question and challenge for autonomous vehicles (AVs). Decision-making systems (DecSs) are the core of AVs, and their safety and rationality are crucial. Several decision-making techniques and algorithms have been applied to AVs; however, they are still subject to limitations and deficiencies, making it impossible to fully guarantee safety. Thus, it is necessary to conduct a safety assessment of the state performance of the DecSs of AVs to reduce driving risks and implement immediate safety measures. This article reviews relevant research on safety assessment methods of AVs’ DecSs. The insufficiency of the current DecSs in terms of safety is analyzed, and the importance and definition of decision-making safety assessment (DMSA) are established. On this basis, assessment indexes related to DMSA are analyzed. From the perspectives of methodology and industrialization development, the existing safety assessment methods are summarized categorically, their applicability and limitations are discussed, and corresponding constructive strategies for improvement are proposed. Additionally, the deficiencies of the existing DMSA methods and the areas that need improvement are analyzed. In this regard, the future challenges and development opportunities of DMSA are proposed. This article provides a useful reference for the perfect DMSA method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]