Automated driving faces many challenges until its legal and actual deployment. The power distribution of the electric powered functions is a key enabler for automated driving. It has to be fail operational. Several diagnosis tasks, supply sources and switches at key positions have to be implemented to achieve fail-operation-ability for the different levels of automation. This leads to a higher complexity of the electronic circuitry of the switches. Concepts for the power distribution and the electronic circuitry for a semiconductor switch are being shown.

In this paper we describe how vehicle systems and the vehicle motion control are affected by automated driving on public roads. We describe the redundancy needed for a road vehicle to meet certain safety goals. The concept of system safety as well as system solutions to fault tolerant actuation of steering and braking and the associated fault tolerant power supply is described. Notably restriction of the operational domain in case of reduced capability of the driving automation system is discussed. Further we consider path tracking, state estimation of vehicle motion control required for automated driving as well as an example of a minimum risk maneuver and redundant steering by means of differential braking. The steering by differential braking could offer heterogeneous or dissimilar redundancy that complements the redundancy of described fault tolerant steering systems for driving automation equipped vehicles. Finally the important topic of verification of driving automation systems is addressed.

For the legal deployment of automated vehicles the power distribution within is a key topic. This system has to be failoperational in case of faults to reach the safe state according to the standard. Switching off loads and short circuits is driving the required switches into avalanche. Exceeding the avalanche energy destroys the device and the system might change into an unsafe state. Through creating a fail-operational power distribution, electric parameters are changing and not all effects are visible immediately. This paper shows results of the SPICE simulation under worst case conditions to analyze specific electric influences within a fail-operational power distribution. Furthermore, not all devices which are expected to go into avalanche are driven into avalanche.

Automated driving is a highly complex idea. It involves mechanics, electronics and chemistry, artificial intelligence, human intelligence and high computational efforts. Apart from those aspects, the automated intelligence is run through electricity. An unintended interrupt can easily lead to a hazard. Therefore, a highly reliable power distribution has to be developed. This work focus on the reliability calculation of such a power distribution concept. It points out what is and will be required in future such that the algorithms for the path planning and control are running in a safe environment according to the ISO 26262 standard.