# Architectural patterns for handling runtime uncertainty of data-driven models in safety-critical perception

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.06838 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.06838/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 3 of its 21 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Jun 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [On a Formal Model of Safe and Scalable Self-driving Cars](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.06374/) (2017)
- [A Comparison of Uncertainty Estimation Approaches in Deep Learning Components for Autonomous Vehicle Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.15172/) (2020)
- [A Study on Mitigating Hard Boundaries of Decision-Tree-based Uncertainty Estimates for AI Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.03263/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Architecting Safer Autonomous Aviation Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.08138/) (2023)
- [Timeseries-aware Uncertainty Wrappers for Uncertainty Quantification of Information-Fusion-Enhanced AI Models based on Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.14872/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Data-driven models (DDM) based on machine learning and other AI techniques play an important role in the perception of increasingly autonomous systems. Due to the merely implicit definition of their behavior mainly based on the data used for training, DDM outputs are subject to uncertainty. This poses a challenge with respect to the realization of safety-critical perception tasks by means of DDMs. A promising approach to tackling this challenge is to estimate the uncertainty in the current situation during operation and adapt the system behavior accordingly. In previous work, we focused on runtime estimation of uncertainty and discussed approaches for handling uncertainty estimations. In this paper, we present additional architectural patterns for handling uncertainty. Furthermore, we evaluate the four patterns qualitatively and quantitatively with respect to safety and performance gains. For the quantitative evaluation, we consider a distance controller for vehicle platooning where performance gains are measured by considering how much the distance can be reduced in different operational situations. We conclude that the consideration of context information of the driving situation makes it possible to accept more or less uncertainty depending on the inherent risk of the situation, which results in performance gains.