Safety engineering approaches and system analysis methods for autonomous mobile machinery

This report is conducted as a part of the Business Finland funded AUTOPORT - coinnovation project ‘Operational excellence and novel business concepts for autonomous logistic systems in ports’. The main goal of AUTOPORT project is to pave the way towards business renewal and operational excellence by developing ecosystem level approaches for automated logistic systems. Research activities are focusing on digitalization and novel usercentric ecosystems in ports and terminals and advanced control systems and safety solutions in applications, which have not been automated before.This report introduces and discusses advanced safety engineering approaches and system theoretic methods that can be used in this context to identify and assess new autonomy related safety risks in mobile machine applications.The systematic and clearly phased safety engineering approach and risk assessment process supports the development of machine autonomy when selecting operating concepts and technological solutions. New methods and tools are needed when designing interactions between autonomous machines and human operators in safety critical decision-making situations. Advanced safety engineering procedures need to be in place to not only identify and control new safety risks, but also to document and communicate safety-related aspects between all relevant stakeholders.