Title: Using optimisation for testing autonomous vehicles

Speaker: Associate Professor Aldeida Aleti

Summary:
Ensuring the safety of autonomous vehicles (AVs) stands as a key concern for industry, and employing simulated environments for testing represents a safer alternative to real-world operational tests. Constructing an exhaustive test suite capable of identifying critical test scenarios comes at a high computational cost due to the intricate nature of each test case. These test cases must encompass diverse dynamic and static attributes, including the AV under evaluation, road participants (such as other vehicles, pedestrians, and stationary obstacles), environmental factors (like weather conditions and lighting), and the structural characteristics of the road (including lanes, turns, and speed parameters). In this talk, I will introduce the area of automated testing of AVs, and discuss some of our work in optimising test scenarios for identifying incorrect behaviours in AVs.

Biography:
Aldeida Aleti is an Associate Professor in the field of Software Engineering, currently serving as an Associate Dean of Engagement and Impact at the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University. A/Prof. Aleti completed her Ph.D. in 2012, specializing in the area of adaptive parameter control for AI algorithms, particularly focused on automated software architecture design. Her dedication to research and innovation has led to over 80 published papers in prestigious conferences and journals within the area of software engineering, including TSE, ICSE, FSE, ASE, TOSEM, JSS, EMSE, among others. In recognition of her exceptional contributions to the field of software engineering, in 2013, A/Prof. Aldeida Aleti was honored with the highly prestigious Discover Early Career Award from the Australian Research Council (ARC). A/Prof. Aleti has secured over AUD $7 million in research funding, enabling her to explore and address critical challenges in the field. Her dedication to academic excellence extends to her role as a Senior Associate Editor of the esteemed Journal of Systems and Software. A/Prof. Aleti actively contributes to the academic community by organizing and participating in numerous program committees for top-tier software engineering conferences, such as New Faculty Symposium Track chair at the International Conference in Software Engineering (ICSE), Journal First Track Chair at the The ACM Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC/FSE), among others. Her commitment to service has been recognized through awards such as the Outstanding Service Award from ICSE and ESEC/FSE. She has received distinguished reviewer awards from TOSEM and JSS and several best paper awards from top conferences, including International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence, the International Conference on Quality of Software Architectures, and the International Conference on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems. She is in the IEEE Computer Society Technical Community on Software Engineering (TCSE), and SIGSOFT – ACM Special Interest Group on Software Engineering award committees, which highlight her dedication to recognizing and celebrating excellence within the software engineering discipline.

WED 11 OCTOBER 16:00-17:00 (AEDT, Melbourne Time)

MEETING ID: 873 1557 5255; PASSWORD: 778635