Verification of autonomous systems [TC spotlight]

The robotics and autonomous systems communities have seen a significant and rapid increase in both the development of robots and vehicles for commercial use and in using these systems across a wide range of novel applications. As these robots, vehicles, software, and even embedded devices move toward much greater autonomy, techniques for verification, providing much higher confidence than usual, are becoming required. However, the analysis and evaluation processes used for traditional systems must be significantly enhanced to provide increased confidence in this next wave of autonomous systems. The need for well understood and effective verification techniques will become even vital, as we move to commercial applications that rely on complex artificial intelligence technologies, and the utilization of these systems in safety-critical scenarios.