ISO/TR 4448-1:2024
(Main)Intelligent transport systems — Public-area mobile robots (PMR) — Part 1: Overview of paradigm
Intelligent transport systems — Public-area mobile robots (PMR) — Part 1: Overview of paradigm
This document provides an overview of the ground-based automated mobility systems deployment paradigm. The paradigm covers such kerbsides and pathways as are suitable for co-temporal, collaborative use by various types and combinations of automated and non-automated, wheeled, or ambulatory, motorized and non-motorized, mobility-related vehicles and devices as well as for various levels of automated or remote operation of such vehicles. This includes vehicles and devices that move people as well as goods within proximate distances of human bystanders. Note Aerial (flying) drones are not part of the scope.
Systèmes de transport intelligents - Robots mobiles en espace public (RMP) — Partie 1: Vue d'ensemble du paradigme
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
Technical
Report
ISO/TR 4448-1
First edition
Intelligent transport systems —
2024-08
Public-area mobile robots (PMR) —
Part 1:
Overview of paradigm
Systèmes de transport intelligents - Robots mobiles en espace
public (RMP) —
Partie 1: Vue d'ensemble du paradigme
Reference number
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ii
Contents Page
Foreword .v
Introduction .vi
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Abbreviated terms . 3
5 Purpose and justification . 3
5.1 General .3
5.2 Safety and conflict-avoidance .4
5.3 Planning .4
5.4 Commercial .4
5.5 Operations and management .4
5.6 Legal, liability and insurance .5
6 Parts outline . 5
6.1 General .5
6.2 Definitions and data .5
6.2.1 Data definitions and general concepts .5
6.2.2 Security, privacy, testing and data: threat, vulnerability and risk profiles .5
6.3 Behaviours .5
6.3.1 Loading and unloading of goods and passengers at the kerb.5
6.3.2 Public-area mobile robot access on human pathways .6
6.3.3 Public-area mobile robot behaviour on human pathways .6
6.3.4 Public-area mobile robot-to-human communication signals .6
6.4 Safety.6
6.4.1 Safety and reliability for public-area mobile robots .6
6.4.2 Journey planning sufficiency for public-area mobile robots .7
6.4.3 Journey data recorder (JDR) for public-area mobile robots .7
6.5 Municipal readiness .7
6.5.1 Suitability of pathway infrastructure for public-area mobile robots .7
6.5.2 Environmental worthiness of public-area mobile robots .7
6.5.3 Post-crash procedures for public-area mobile robots .7
6.5.4 Mapping maintenance for public-area mobile robots .8
6.6 Personal assistants .8
6.6.1 Personal assistant robots for human transport .8
6.6.2 Personal assistant robots for tasks and goods movement . .8
7 Context . 8
7.1 Automated vehicles .8
7.1.1 Automated motor vehicles at the kerb .8
7.1.2 Automated devices (PMRs) on pedestrian infrastructure .8
7.2 The evolution of the sidewalk and accelerators for PMRs to operate there .10
7.2.1 General .10
7.2.2 History .10
7.2.3 Safety .10
7.2.4 Cost .11
7.3 The challenges. 12
7.3.1 General . 12
7.3.2 Infrastructure . 12
7.3.3 Revisions of existing regulations for PMR use on public infrastructure . 13
7.3.4 Greater variety of mobility types, and configurations . 13
7.3.5 Greater demand for orchestration in pedestrianized mobility space. .14
7.3.6 Growing access demands on pedestrianized space .14
7.3.7 Growing mismatch between infrastructure configuration and user capabilities . 15
iii
7.3.8 Regulatory or infrastructural bias: pedestrian vs PMR . 15
7.3.9 The problem of compute resources for PMR automation .16
8 Operating principles for PMRs . 16
8.1 Contrasting types of infrastructure . .16
8.1.1 General .16
8.1.2 Contrasting pathway and kerb .16
8.1.3 Contrasting cycleways and footway .17
8.2 Behavioural factors .17
9 Governance principles for PMRs . 19
9.1 General .19
9.2 Similarities between PMRs and wheeled, human-assistive devices . 20
10 Environmental and social considerations .21
10.1 Environmental (climate and weather) resilience certification .21
10.2 Social considerations .21
11 Use cases .22
Bibliography .24
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Foreword
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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 204, Intelligent transport systems.
A list of all parts in the ISO 4448 series can be found on the ISO website.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
v
Introduction
0.1 Background
1)
The ISO 4448 series is focused on robotic road vehicles as they load and unload passengers and goods at
the kerb as well as robotic devices operating among unprotected pedestrian bystanders to perform tasks in
public spaces such as delivery, inspection, maintenance, surveillance and others.
Mobile robotic vehicles and devices have found uses in factories, farms, mines and warehouses for well
over half a century. For applications in constrained spaces, this history stretches back to the 1950s with
the use of automated guided vehicles (AGV) that moved along fixed pathways guided by embedded magnets
or similar techniques. Over time, this technology matured to use beacons and positioning signals, usually
in structured work environments to become what are variously known as industrial mobile robots (IMR)
and automated mobile robots (AMR). These technologies have increasing capabilities of moving from fixed,
memorized pathways to navigating with increasing flexibility and eventually using indoor-GPS, hi-definition
maps and sophisticated algorithms to move safely and deftly among humans in those environments.
In the past decade, this technology has developed sufficiently to operate beyond such relatively structured
spaces to provide services directly among humans. Multiple types of mobile robots now operate indoors
among air travel passengers, restaurant users and hospital visitors, as well as outdoors in public spaces
such as footways, cycleways and parks. Any such mobile robotic device operating among such bystanders is
called a public-area mobile robot (PMR).
0.2 Robotic vehicles at the kerb, among non-robotic users
Robotic motor vehicles such as cars and trucks operating in urban areas often need to load or unload
passengers and goods at a kerb. Deployment standards are needed to manage this access and queueing
process of loading or unloading, often called “pick up and drop off” (PUDO) in the case of human passengers.
The traffic and parking rules that cities have relied on prior to the mid-2020s represent systems already
under stress, with their design and governance shortcomings made increasingly evident by the coronavirus
pandemic. The data structures related to parking, as clarified and restructured under ISO/TS 5206-1,
are insufficient to support PUDO for automated vehicle systems (See Reference [3] for a commonplace
description of the PUDO problem).
In the future, cities will need new operating guidelines as kerb lanes and sidewalks are used by automated
cars (such as taxis) and automated delivery vehicles that will arrive, stop, wait and either load or unload
under sensor, effector and software control. These machines will need to be prioritized, scheduled, queued,
bumped and placed in holding patterns regardless of the nature or proximity of human oversight Moreover,
these operations need to occur without blocking crosswalks, bicycle lanes, micromobility users, no-
stopping areas or transit stops. This needs to be done safely, alongside human-operated vehicles, without
inconveniencing pedestrians and other vulnerable road users (VRUs), and with regard to human accessibility
challenges.
When cities experience large numbers of automated vehicles that are loading, unloading and performing
other tasks at the kerb, they will require orchestration. Systems for this will need to be regional, operating
above the level of private owners or commercial fleet operators and overseen by a traffic authority. The
ISO 4448 series includes data and procedural documents to support PUDO orchestration for automated cars
and trucks.
0.3 Robotic devices operating in public spaces among pedestrian bystanders
Unlike cars and trucks, smaller robotic devices designed to perform various delivery, maintenance,
monitoring and other helper tasks can operate on footways, cycleways and roadways including footpaths
inside public buildings such as hospitals, malls and airports – collectively termed “pathways.” Some are able
to move between the indoors and outdoors, and some are enabled to open doors and use elevators. These
devices can have numerous advantages for cities and people who live in cities. The ISO 4448 series refers to
these devices as “public-area mobile robots” or PMRs.
1) The other parts of this series are under development.
vi
PMR deployment represents the first time in human history that mobile devices (machines) designed to
operate without a proximate human attendant are being used to move among human bystanders that are
inattentive, uninvolved, unprotected and untrained relative to the task or activity of the device.
This will have a profound impact on the management of public spaces which until now have been dedicated
to pedestrians and unpowered active transportation devices such as wheelchairs, scooters, bicycles or
skateboards. Such PMRs can have impacts on safety, accessibility, existing social rights, vulnerable road
users (VRUs), adequacy of infrastructure, street and pavement design, road crossing designs, active-user
traffic flow, etc.
0.4 Standardization of robotic vehicles at the kerb vs. those operating among bystanders
These two types of robots generally operate on opposite sides of the kerb. While automated road vehicles
such as passenger vehicles and trucks operate on the motor vehicle side, PMRs operate on the pedestrian
side. Urban infrastructure is organized this way for historical reasons, but is not unambiguous everywhere:
in some locations the boundary implied by a kerb is merely assumed and possibly variable.
These two types of automated vehicles are generally subject to different regulations, with the rules designed
for road vehicles being generally much more developed, explicit and often more assertively enforced by
governments(s). Hence, the ISO 4448 series will focus almost exclusively on PMRs with the critical exception
of PUDO (pick-up/drop-off) at the kerb.
Interactions among all such robotic devices, active transportation users and human bystanders is a critical
concern of the ISO 4448 series.
0.5 Planned way forward
This document provides an introduction to the ISO 4448 series, which will cover the description,
management and operation of automated vehicles at the kerbside, within walkways, in integrated kerbside-
pathway (footway) systems and within any public pathway that permits PMRs to move among pedestrians
and other VRUs. Operation of such vehicles is inclusive of arriving, stopping, waiting, loading and unloading
at the kerbside and arriving, proceeding, stopping, waiting, loading/unloading or any task performed on
footways and other pathways.
The purpose of the ISO 4448 series is to:
1. define the operating and behavioural systems needed to organize and expedite the flow of vehicular
and robotic ground traffic in cities, specifically with regard to the loading and unloading of goods and
passengers at the kerbside;
2. define the allocation and movement of PMRs for short-haul delivery, garbage removal, sweeping,
washing, snow removal, repair, food trucks, public works tasks and human transportation in public
spaces, among other services conducted on pathways or crosswalks.
For PMRs, standardization addressing numerous behavioural rules that act as “rules of the road” is needed.
The two most important attributes of PMRs are that they operate in publicly accessible spaces shared with
inattentive, uninvolved, unprotected and untrained bystanders and that they move without a proximate
human operator (a teleoperator beyond line-of-sight is not proximate).
The ISO 4448 series is planned to comprise a set of terminology, guidelines and real-time procedures for
the coordination of operations at the kerbside, on pathways and the integrated use of automation on both
kerbsides and pathways. The operating and behaviour standards being defined in the ISO 4448 series are
intended to enable carefully defined (mapped) and expanding areas of cities to manage any number of
vehicles and vehicle varieties operated by any number of operators (public, commercial, and private) for
these various activities.
0.6 PMR capabilities, agency and rights
PMRs are machines. They are mobile hardware devices that use the capabilities of sensors and software to
move and to perform tasks with varying level of automation. They have no ability to reason or to “decide”
anything beyond what their electro-mechanical systems permit whether controlled by code or machine
vii
learning. The only current exception to this is that most of these devices can be under the control of a human
teleoperator. In such cases, a PMR that is controlled by a human can be expected to inherit the reasoning
capability of its human controller; still, it is the human that is reasoning.
There can be times when the descriptive language used in the ISO 4448 series appears to grant PMRs a degree
of agency. They have no agency. Any agency that can be inferred is with fleet operators and teleoperators.
In all cases, a PMR has no “social rights,” like a bicycle, although there are a number of circumstances in
which a PMR can potentially have the “right-of-way,” just as a bicycle with its rider often does. There have
been regulations passed in several countries that require a PMR to follow pedestrian rules or for a motor
vehicle operator to treat a PMR in a roadway intersection as though it is a pedestrian. These regulations are
describing the behaviour of a PMR or how it is to be treated in a traffic circumstance. They do not confer any
social rights, as has on occasion been erroneously interpreted in mass media.
It is also critical that the utility and capability of PMRs does not overshadow the social rights and well-
being of vulnerable workers. It is frequently stated that robots are needed to address labour shortages. The
ISO 4448 series is neutral on such issues, although it is recognized that automation has job impacts. It is not
the within the scope of this document to suggest whether new jobs, other jobs, or better jobs will become
available, but it is recognized that there will likely be labour impacts.
viii
Technical Report ISO/TR 4448-1:2024(en)
Intelligent transport systems — Public-area mobile
robots (PMR) —
Part 1:
Overview of paradigm
1 Scope
This document provides an overview of the ground-based automated mobility systems deployment
paradigm. The paradigm covers such kerbsides and pathways as are suitable for co-temporal, collaborative
use by various types and combinations of automated and non-automated, wheeled, or ambulatory, motorized
and non-motorized, mobility-related vehicles and devices as well as for various levels of automated or
remote operation of such vehicles. This includes vehicles and devices that move people as well as goods
within proximate distances of human bystanders.
Note Aerial (flying) drones are not part of the scope.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes
requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references,
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/TS 14812, Intelligent transport systems — Vocabulary
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/TS 14812 and the following apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
ambulatory
relating to or adapted for walking
Note 1 to entry: Implies having and travelling on legs in the case of public-area mobile robots (PMRs).
3.2
block-face
segment of a street and sidewalk facing one or the other side of the street between two consecutive
intersections
Note 1 to entry: The length of the block-face is the distance between two consecutive cross-streets.
3.3
bystander
human within a proximate distance of a public-area mobile robot (PMR) that is any of uninvolved, inattentive,
unprotected or untrained regarding the task of a PMR or other automated vehicle
3.4
kerb
edge where a raised footway, road shoulder or road median meets an unraised street, carriageway or
other roadway
3.5
delivery robot
robotic vehicle used to deliver goods, food and other items, often for “last mile” applications
Note 1 to entry: While the word "drone" is correctly used to describe a wheeled robot, this document uses the term
"robot" and the specific acronym PMR.
3.6
dockless scooter
rental e-scooter that does not require returning to a docking station to terminate the rental
3.7
LoadPlan
electronic message provided to a road vehicle to schedule a time and place for a pick up or drop off
3.8
micromobility
first mile or last mile forms of transport
Note 1 to entry: Including e-scooters, bicycles, skateboards and pedestrian devices.
3.9
pathway
infrastructure designed to permit the movement of various combinations of active transportation users
and public-area mobile robots (PMRs) within the same space, including outdoor footways, cycleways,
crosswalks, road shoulders, trails and indoor passageways, corridors or hallways
3.10
public-area mobile robot
PMR
wheeled or legged (ambulatory) ground-based device that is designed to travel along public, shared, active
transportation pathways without the use of visible human assistance or physical guides
Note 1 to entry: Physical guides include rails and kerbs.
Note 2 to entry: While the term public-area mobile robot (PMR) excludes devices with visible human assistance, a PMR
can be teleoperated by a human.
Note 3 to entry: While the term “PMR” excludes devices with visible human assistance, PMRs can carry humans as
passengers, e.g. an automated wheelchair.
Note 4 to entry: While the term “PMR” excludes devices with visible human assistance, PMRs can be electronically
tethered to follow a human.
3.11
robotaxi
vehicle with an automated driving system (ADS) that is configured to perform the entire dynamic driving
task (DDT) throughout its operational design domain (ODD) for the purpose of a for-hire passenger service
Note 1 to entry: This is a form of ADS-DV (Automated Driving System – Dedicated Vehicle) defined in SAE J3016-
202104 (See Reference [2]).
EXAMPLE Remotely monitored automated taxi.
3.12
shy distance
base measure set by an authority as the minimum distance that a public-area mobile robot (PMR) must
attempt to maintain from bystanders while operating in a public space
Note 1 to entry: There are many special cases in this document that use shy distance as a variable. For example, a PMR
passing another PMR can do so at 0,5 shy distances, but a robot following a human can be required to maintain 3,0 shy
distances.
3.13
TripPlan
electronic message provided to a public-area mobile robot (PMR) with a schedule, map and rules for a PMR trip
3.14
teleoperator
human with oversight of and some potential to navigate, guide or direct a remote vehicle, sometimes
including lateral and longitudinal control of that vehicle
4 Abbreviated terms
ADS automated driving system
ATS automatic traffic signals
C-ITS cooperative intelligent transport systems
DDT dynamic driving task
EV electric vehicle
ICT information and communications technology
IoT internet of things
JDR journey data recorder
ODD operational design domain
PMR public-area mobile robot
PUDO pickup and drop off
VRU vulnerable road user
5 Purpose and justification
5.1 General
Automated road vehicles for passenger and goods transport operate with awareness of existing motor vehicle
road use and parking rules. However, automated devices used on footways and other active-transportation
pathways for delivery, maintenance, surveillance or similar tasks can be subject to newly established, local
regulations – if any.
Detailed regulations for such PMRs do not yet exist in many cities and regions, because there is generally
insufficient traffic management experience to address the intention, deployment and behaviour of PMRs.
In addition, these two types of robots – automated road vehicles and PMRs – converge at crosswalks and road
intersections which are also used by pedestrians and other users of active transportation devices. A similar
observation regarding other users applies to those types of PMRs that are designed for use on cycleways and
roadways. Concurrent use of such infrastructures by both types of robotic systems will create unique spatial
conflicts, implying that the rules for each will commingle and potentially lead to unintended consequences.
The need for standardization is five-fold:
1) safety and conflict-avoidance;
2) planning;
3) commercial;
4) operations and management;
5) legal, liability and insurance.
5.2 Safety and conflict-avoidance
As the number of innovative types of mobile vehicles and devices, automated or non-automated, enter into
common use, there is increasing potential for spatial conflicts while navigating, waiting or performing tasks
in public spaces. These can include loading and unloading, cleaning, monitoring, delivering and guiding.
Additionally, navigational conflicts when passing, crossing, or overtaking can be expected to grow with the
number and variety of such vehicles and devices. Such conflicts are already very common and cumbersome
at many kerbs and on many sidewalks. Increasing numbers of such vehicles and devices can be expected
to operate without on-board or proximate human operators, and without the lane- or path-markings such
as those that guide on-street vehicles. It is necessary for machines that operate at kerbs, on sidewalks, in
building corridors and sometimes combinations of these, to interact with each other, with human-operated
vehicles and devices, and with pedestrians. This requires a set of agreed and tightly communicated
behaviours and guidelines for real-time resolution (rules) and those behaviours and resolutions require
agreed terminology and structure.
5.3 Planning
Projects to re-format and reorganize streets, kerbs or sidewalks, or to design indoor pedestrian spaces,
can imply the building and shaping of such spaces to be workable for vehicles and devices whose operating
characteristics are potentially different, or differently constrained, than those of vehicles and devices
under direct human operation. Such planning activities need guidelines requiring common terminologies,
taxonomies, categorizations, rules and architectures. They will also need detailed metrics and design
parameter descriptions.
5.4 Commercial
Some kerbs, sidewalks and other pedestrianized spaces can be used more frequently than others by
automated commercial vehicles (taxis, shuttles, trucks, public-area mobile robots, etc.) each with a variety of
task capabilities. These vehicles would be loading and unloading passengers and goods and executing service
tasks. The use of machines and devices without a proximate human operator for these activities means
forward-planning will be required. Such forward planning will need transparent spatial-understanding
rules and pathway or waiting-place reservation systems operating in near real-time. The design of such
reservation systems requires agreed terminologies, taxonomies, categories and rules.
5.5 Operations and management
Kerbs, sidewalks and public building corridors form an interface between people who are residing, visiting
or trading at buildings at or near these infrastructures. People and goods who arrive or depart on foot or
with the help of vehicles and devices, automated or not, expect to be able to arrive and depart in a timely
manner without finding their footway, pathway or loading facility blocked and without unexpectedly long
waits or difficult passage. These spaces need to be managed in a coordinated fashion. Standardization is
required to establish consensus on methods for this management and the terminologies, taxonomies,
categories, and rules.
5.6 Legal, liability and insurance
Public spaces can be shared by many classes of mobile users including local residents, vendors, visitors,
shoppers, and workers, whether able-bodied or otherwise. Any physical conflict involving an automated
device or vehicle that causes bodily harm, financial loss, or other harm or perceived harm can be subject
to legal action. Hence a common understanding and description for these spaces, and the interactions, data
sensors and data recording therein, is necessary to determine liability for legal and insurance purposes. This
common understanding and description require standardized terminologies, taxonomies, categorizations
and rules.
6 Parts outline
6.1 General
Key topics for standardization of deployment for PMRs are as follows:
1. definitions and data;
2. behaviours;
3. safety;
4. municipal readiness;
5. personal assistance.
Within the context of automated road vehicles and PMRs as covered by the ISO 4448 series, these components
need to be addressed in terms of deployment matters related to loading and unloading within public,
pedestrianized spaces (e.g. at the kerb), or throughout their entire management and activity spectrum
within public, pedestrianized spaces (e.g. on sidewalks, pathways, bike lanes or within public buildings).
6.2 Definitions and data
6.2.1 Data definitions and general concepts
Data definitions include units, defaults and ranges where appropriate. Consistency throughout informs
deployment discipline and improves the potential for integration among systems and across jurisdictions.
6.2.2 Security, privacy, testing and data: threat, vulnerability and risk profiles
Specific points for standardization describe:
1. communications and cybersecurity issues that are necessary for secure and assured connectivity,
location, determination, teleoperation, IoT, recovery and enforcement override;
2. the maximum privacy issues and guidelines for PMRs;
3. testing guidelines for PMRs;
4. data capture, use, retention and sharing guidelines for PMRs operating in public spaces.
NOTE Privacy, data retention and use are determined by the local jurisdiction.
6.3 Behaviours
6.3.1 Loading and unloading of goods and passengers at the kerb
A key point for standardization is a body of orchestration procedures to manage loading or unloading of
passengers and goods. This could apply to any publicly accessible loading location(s) for applicable vehicles.
When developed for the context of automated vehicles, such procedures could also be used by human-
operated vehicles. Orchestration procedures could manage the endpoints of a trip with an electronic
document called a LoadPlan that describes multiple features about hypothetical points “A” and “B”, related
to queueing for use of a spot at point A or point B for a loading or unloading activity.
It would be important to incorporate procedures and rules for the case of vehicles constrained to the
kerbside or other designated loading area to load and unload PMRs that move goods or passengers along
public pathways that do not admit larger vehicles (for example transferring from a truck or van into a smaller
vehicle such as a PMR). This aspect could integrate with PMR orchestration messages called TripPlans.
Other important elements would include methods and metrics to determine whether a kerb on a block-face
is suitable for a particular type or intensity of use of automated vehicles or devices.
6.3.2 Public-area mobile robot access on human pathways
An important aspect for standardization includes establishing methods to manage PMR congestion by
describing capabilities for trip reservation and queueing for public-area mobile robots in public spaces
(footway, cycleway, roadway and crosswalk). PMR orchestration could be provided by methods such as:
1. zones and time slots (TripZone);
2. start and end points, pathway segments, segment behaviours, and start time (TripPlan).
NOTE Method 2 provides more traffic control and a finer degree of management by monetization (use charging)
than method 1.
6.3.3 Public-area mobile robot behaviour on human pathways
It is especially important to describe “rules of the road” for PMRs on public pathways or in public spaces.
This can include the full range of behaviours related to sharing space with humans, pets, other robots and
infrastructure, and can be described as a standard, enforceable traffic code for the sidewalk. This aspect of
the ISO 4448 series could become very important for municipal regulation and enforcement protocols which
would often be locally determined.
6.3.4 Public-area mobile robot-to-human communication signals
PMRs share public space with bystanders, including those with vision or hearing challenges. Therefore,
it will be important to describe standard sound, light, haptic and gestural (motional) displays for social
communication between PMRs and bystanders. Its key purposes can include:
1. clarity regarding a robot’s intentions when near bystanders; and
2. socializing the robot’s presence.
6.4 Safety
6.4.1 Safety and reliability for public-area mobile robots
There is a need to address multiple physical, mechatronic and operating safety aspects of PMRs. This
includes sensors, effectors, fire and chemical, hazardous goods and more. These could be organized into
three categories, as follows:
1. location safety, as impacted by a surrounding context;
2. device safety, as impacted by the device safety design; and
3. safety for proximate humans, as impacted by the disposition and behaviour of proximate humans.
6.4.2 Journey planning sufficiency for public-area mobile robots
An important safety capability is the definition of a reliable field of perception including range and maximum
blind spot extent for journey planning competency. This can focus on the planning range between the full
trip (path planning or a PMR macro plan) and the immediate next decisions (trajectory planning or a PMR
micro plan). This intermediate range, a meso plan, would ensure that a PMR can perceive well in advance
any pending barrier(s) to the execution of its macro plan in order to avoid:
1. being trapped by navigating too deeply into unexpected circumstances; or
2. exhibiting undesired, unexpected or alarming behaviour in the presence of bystanders.
6.4.3 Journey data recorder (JDR) for public-area mobile robots
To be able to understand, track and enforce PMR behaviour in public spaces, it will be important to describe
journey data recorder (JDR) functions for PMRs. Such functions can include:
1) measurement of shy distance compliance (immediate spatial clearance);
2) comparison of shy distance compliance among fleet operators;
3) social compliance for licence renewal;
4) a tool for investigating complaints;
5) a record for event reconstruction;
6) a tool for measuring congestion regarding the granting of TripPlans; and
7) a method for testing software.
6.5 Municipal readiness
6.5.1 Suitability of pathway infrastructure for public-area mobile robots
It will be critical to describe methods and metrics to determine whether a footway, cycleway, roadway or
crosswalk is suitable to a particular type or intensity of PMR use.
NOTE This can provide a critical opportunity to ensure that PMR methods and metrics match or exceed current
disabil
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