DETROIT, MICH.–SAE International, along with automakers Ford, General Motors, and Toyota is forming the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium to collaboratively test, develop, and deploy Level 4 and 5 automated vehicles.

Edward Straub, AVSC’s executive director, said in a statement on April 3 that the new consortium will “fill a critical need” by “providing a safety framework” around which autonomous vehicle or AV technology can evolve in advance of broad deployment.

“The work will ultimately inform and accelerate the development of industry standards for AVs and harmonize with efforts of other consortia and standards bodies throughout the world,” he added.

SAE said the consortium plans to “leverage the expertise” of current and future members to establish a set of AV “safety guiding principles” that will form a “roadmap” toward the development of uniform AV safety standards.

That “roadmap” is intended to be applicable for developers, manufacturers, and integrators of automated vehicle technology, and focuses on data sharing, vehicle interaction with other road users and safe testing guidelines, SAE noted.

“We understand that autonomous vehicles need to operate safely and reliably in concert with infrastructure and other road users to earn trust of the communities in which they are deployed,” said Randy Visintainer, chief technology officer, at Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC. “Our goal with the consortium is to work with industry and government partners to expedite development of standards that can lead to rule making.”