Workshop on Verification and Validation of Autonomous Systems, 18-19 July 2018 CFP

[Clare Dixon]

	          *** Apologies for multiple copies ***

                         PRELIMINARY CALL FOR PAPERS

       Workshop on Verification and Validation of Autonomous Systems
                      Satellite Workshop of FLoC 2018
                             18-19 July 2018
                     University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
                 https://sites.google.com/site/wsvavas2018/

General Information
The Workshop on Verification and Validation of Autonomous Systems is a
workshop held as part of the Federated Logic Conference (FLOC) in July 
2018 at the University of Oxford, UK.

Introduction
Autonomous systems are being increasingly developed and used in many 
areas of society, from driverless cars and unmanned air vehicles, to 
web-bots and companion robots. A defining characteristic of such systems 
is that they make decisions for themselves about what to do given their 
current state, the state of the environment, and the purpose of the 
system. A key aspect of ensuring that systems with such complex (and 
often safety-critical) behaviour can be  safely deployed is verification 
and validation.  The workshop aims to bring together researchers working 
on a range of techniques for verification and validation of autonomous 
systems, ranging from formal methods to simulation and testing, to 
present recent work in the area, discuss key difficulties,  and 
stimulate collaboration. The workshop will include invited speakers, 
contributed papers, demonstrations and  panel sessions.


Topics of interest
The topics covered by the workshop include, but are not limited to, the
following:

  * Formal verification techniques for autonomous systems;
  * Testing approaches to autonomous systems;
  * Simulation approaches to autonomous systems;
  * Statistical approaches to autonomous systems;
  * Combinations of several approaches;
  * Routes to certification for autonomous systems;
  * Ethics, trust and privacy;
  * Verification of specific autonomous systems.

Previous Events
The workshop is funded by EPSRC through the Network on the Verification 
and Validation of Autonomous Systems. This is the final workshop 
organised by the Network which has run a series of events over the last 
three years about specific topics. Information about the network and 
previous events are accessible from https://vavas.org/

Submissions
Submitted contributions should not exceed eight pages using the latex
article format. Submitted papers should be in PDF and uploaded to

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=vavas2018

Submission of extended abstracts relating to noteworthy, previously
published papers is welcome.

Three types of submission will be considered:

* Extended abstracts (paper) of up to two pages reporting on work in
   progress or previously published work;
* Extended abstracts (demo) of up to two pages describing demonstrations 
to  be presented at the workshop;
* Papers of up to eight pages covering novel research.

Each submission should be clearly identified as belonging to one of 
these categories.

Submissions should make clear the relevance to verification and 
validation of autonomous systems, identify the main contribution of the 
work, explain its significance, its novelty, and include comparisons 
with the relevant literature. Extended abstracts (demo) should describe 
a demonstration to be presented at the workshop and, if possible, 
include links to a video relating to the proposed demonstration.

Accepted papers will be collected together as an informal 
pre-proceedings and made available via the workshop website. Submissions 
from PC members are encouraged.

Important Dates
16th April 2018: Submission deadline.
  8th May 2018: Acceptance notification.
16th May 2018: Camera-ready version deadline.
18th-19th July 2018: Workshop

Proceedings
The submitted papers will be collected together as an informal
pre-proceedings that will be available via the workshop website.

Depending on the success of the event, a journal issue may be organised
following the workshop. All papers submitted to the special issue will 
be re-refereed and will have to adhere to the usual standards of high 
quality journal articles, including novelty.

General Chair
Michael Fisher, University of Liverpool

Program Chairs
Clare Dixon, University of Liverpool
Brian Logan, University of Nottingham
Alessio Lomuscio, Imperial College London