mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Runtime Safety Assurance for Learning-enabled Control of Autonomous Driving Vehicles

arXiv 2109.13446 ↗First posted 28 Sep 2021cs.RO cs.SY eess.SYcited by 8

On the map: End-to-end autonomous driving → Reinforcement learning for driving

Abstract (arXiv)

Providing safety guarantees for Autonomous Vehicle (AV) systems with machine-learning-based controllers remains a challenging issue. In this work, we propose Simplex-Drive, a framework that can achieve runtime safety assurance for machine-learning enabled controllers of AVs. The proposed Simplex-Drive consists of an unverified Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL)-based advanced controller (AC) that achieves desirable performance in complex scenarios, a Velocity-Obstacle (VO) based baseline safe controller (BC) with provably safety guarantees, and a verified mode management unit that monitors the operation status and switches the control authority between AC and BC based on safety-related conditions. We provide a formal correctness proof of Simplex-Drive and conduct a lane-changing case study in dense traffic scenarios. The simulation experiment results demonstrate that Simplex-Drive can always ensure operation safety without sacrificing control performance, even if the DRL policy may lead to deviations from the safe status.

Key facts. Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Reinforcement learning for driving, one of 9 directions in End-to-end autonomous driving. Builds on 11 of its 25 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 28 Sep 2021.

Builds on

11 of 25 references.

References · 11

  1. 2017Attention Is All You Needcited by 59,932
  2. 2016Asynchronous Methods for Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 2,218
  3. 2016Continuous Deep Q-Learning with Model-based Accelerationcited by 149
  4. 2019End-to-End Model-Free Reinforcement Learning for Urban Driving using Implicit Affordancescited by 147
  5. 2018A Reinforcement Learning Based Approach for Automated Lane Change Maneuverscited by 44
  6. 2018End-to-End Race Driving with Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 38
  7. 2019Neural Simplex Architecturecited by 27
  8. 2018SOTER: A Runtime Assurance Framework for Programming Safe Robotics Systemscited by 24
  9. 2019Driving Decision and Control for Autonomous Lane Change based on Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 14
  10. 2018Adaptive Behavior Generation for Autonomous Driving using Deep Reinforcement Learning with Compact Semantic Statescited by 8
  11. 2020Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning for Self-Driving Decision-Making without Reliance on Labeled Driving Datacited by 7

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2022: 1; 2023: 1; 2024: 1; 2025: 2; 2026: 3.

8 papers.

  1. 2022Provably Safe Reinforcement Learning: Conceptual Analysis, Survey, and Benchmarkingcited by 31
  2. 2026Embodied Foundation Models at the Edge: A Survey of Deployment Constraints and Mitigation Strategiescited by 6
  3. 2023Physics-Driven ML-Based Modelling for Correcting Inverse Estimationcited by 1
  4. 2024A Safe Self-evolution Algorithm for Autonomous Driving Based on Data-Driven Risk Quantification Modelcited by 1
  5. 2025Argus: Resilience-Oriented Safety Assurance Framework for End-to-End ADSscited by 1
  6. 2025Real-DRL: Teach and Learn in Realitycited by 0
  7. 2026Engineering Trustworthy Agentic AI for Critical Systemscited by 0
  8. 2026Learning-Based Behavior Planning for Automated Driving: Real-World Integration and Deploymentcited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026Safe Reinforcement Learning of Autonomous Highway Driving: A Unified Framework for Safety and Efficiency
  2. 2022SafeRL-Kit: Evaluating Efficient Reinforcement Learning Methods for Safe Autonomous Driving
  3. 2023Towards Safe Autonomous Driving Policies using a Neuro-Symbolic Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach
  4. 2024SECRM-2D: RL-Based Efficient and Comfortable Route-Following Autonomous Driving with Analytic Safety Guarantees
  5. 2021Minimizing Safety Interference for Safe and Comfortable Automated Driving with Distributional Reinforcement Learning
  6. 2024Long and Short-Term Constraints Driven Safe Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Driving
  7. 2022Self-Awareness Safety of Deep Reinforcement Learning in Road Traffic Junction Driving
  8. 2023Combining Policy Gradient and Safety-Based Control for Autonomous Driving