Operationalizing Autonomy: A Transition From the Innovation Space to Real-World Operations

Industry and government agencies envision the deployment of autonomous systems throughout society, especially autonomous vehicles that operate within civilian and military infrastructures. As autonomous capability and reliability increase, the prevalence of autonomous vehicles in our daily socio-technological lives becomes inevitable. The social acceptance of autonomous unmanned ground and aerial vehicles into our daily routine is strongly predicated on the demonstration of and adherence to strict requirements of policy, safety, and availability. However, many autonomous systems remain at their initial stages of innovation and development. Legal, ethical, and moral concerns as well as technological and regulatory barriers exist that hinder their deployment on a large scale.