Verification, Validation and Assurance

Traditionally, verification and validation in the automotive sector has focused on the vehicle development process — physical testing on purpose-built tracks to meet type-approval and certification requirements. Connected and Automated Mobility fundamentally changes this. The ability to update and change features across a CAV’s lifespan, combined with the diffuse range of responsibilities once deployed, means that VVA must become a whole-life activity if safety and public trust are to be maintained.

The roadmap applies the UK CAM Roadmap’s Why/What/How framework to VVA specifically — establishing why VVA matters and how it is evolving, mapping the services and stakeholders in the VVA value chain, and setting out the key enabling themes and recommendations across a timeline to 2035.

• CAM technology developers: The evolving VVA requirements for vehicle systems, simulation toolchains and OTA update management — and how the ASDE role changes your assurance obligations.
• Legal and regulatory teams: How the AVA 2024 ASDE and NUiC Operator entities create new VVA obligations — and what the gap between primary and secondary legislation means for near-term deployment planning.
• Test and validation organisations: How the VVA landscape is evolving from physical testing to simulation — and the credibility standards that simulation toolchains must meet to support regulatory decisions.
• Policymakers: The seven recommendations for enabling VVA processes across the CAM lifecycle — identifying where policy intervention, standards development and regulatory guidance is needed.
• Researchers and RTOs: The specific technical gaps — federated data architecture, simulation standards, HD map maintenance — where further research and development is needed.