SAE ITC Digital Road Rules Consortium Releases First Industry White Paper on Engineering Rules chevron right

SAE ITC Digital Road Rules Consortium Releases First Industry White Paper on Engineering Rules of the Road for Automated Driving Systems

WARRENDALE, Pa. (June 18, 2026) - SAE Industry Technologies Consortia (SAE ITC) today announced the release of the first white paper from its newly formed Digital Road Rules Consortium (DRRC). The publication outlines a practical, harmonized approach for translating rules of the road into clear, testable engineering requirements for driving automation systems.

Rules of the road were created to enable safe and predictable mobility, governing both vehicle operation and interactions among road users. While human drivers rely on training and experience to interpret these rules, automated driving systems must explicitly account for applicable legal requirements within their operational design domain (ODD).

This white paper addresses a critical industry challenge: converting natural-language rules, often subjective and context-dependent, into precise, unambiguous requirements that can be implemented, verified, and maintained in driving automation systems.

The paper outlines key challenges and presents systems engineering approaches to:

• Translate legal requirements into objective, testable logic
• Enable consistency and traceability across implementations
• Support verification and ongoing validation as regulations evolve

"A common framework for the engineering interpretation of traffic laws is essential to scale trustworthy driving automation," said Tim Yerdon, Executive Leader of SAE ITC. "By establishing this shared foundation, we improve consistency, speed up development, and enable safer deployment as operational design domains expand across the country."

The DRRC brings together stakeholders across the mobility ecosystem to align best practices that enable safe, lawful, and scalable automation.

Download the White Paper: https://www.sae-itc.com/programs/drrc/wp-01-2026

About SAE ITC Digital Road Rules Consortium (DRRC)
The SAE ITC Digital Road Rules Consortium (DRRC) is a collaborative industry group focused on establishing a comprehensive end-to-end process for interpreting and translating rules of the road into engineering-ready requirements for driving automation systems. Through cross-industry collaboration, the DRRC aims to enable safer, more predictable, and scalable deployment of vehicle automation technologies. https://www.sae-itc.com/programs/drrc

About SAE Industry Technologies Consortia (SAE ITC)
SAE ITC is an affiliate of SAE International. SAE ITC specializes in establishing and managing consortia by providing proven processes, tools, and resources. SAE ITC enables public, private, academic and government organizations to connect and collaborate in neutral, pre-competitive forums thus empowering the setting and implementation of strategic business improvements in highly engineered industries globally. Http://www.sae-itc.com.

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Media Contact
Andrew Peacock
SAE ITC Marketing Manager
[email protected]