SBIR FastTrack: Generative AI-Driven Simulation to Address the Long-Tail Problem in Autonomous Vehicle Safety Validation

NSF Award Search · 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $1,554,922 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer Fast-Track Pilot project will be the creation of a tool that helps make self-driving cars safer before they go on public roads. These vehicles will need to be tested in rare but risky situations, like a person crossing suddenly or a car turning without warning. Such events are hard to find in real life. This project will use artificial intelligence to build thousands of virtual test scenes that show how vehicles react. This will help engineers spot problems and fix them before anyone gets hurt. It will also save time and money by reducing the need for road testing. The project will support national goals by making roads safer, helping new technology grow faster, and keeping the United States a leader in global transportation. This open-source tool will also help researchers and safety officials create more trusted systems for everyone. This Small Business Technology Transfer Fast-Track Pilot project will develop a generative simulation framework for validating autonomous vehicle safety under rare, high-risk conditions. The core technical innovation is a hybrid methodology that combines statistical realism through reconstruction of real-world traffic distributions and adversarial scenario generation to stress-test autonomous vehicle behavior. This project addresses several high-risk challenges, including modeling heterogeneous interactions among vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists using generative mode

Key facts

NSF award ID
2527960
Awardee
SAFERDRIVE AI LLC (MI)
SAM.gov UEI
XRT2JKFKLG66
PI
Haowei Sun
Primary program
01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
ARTIFICIAL INTELL & COGNIT SCI
Estimated total
$1,554,922
Funds obligated
$1,554,922
Transaction type
Cooperative Agreement
Period
09/01/2025 → 08/31/2028