ASQ Phoenix March 12, 2026 Program Meeting – Virtual
6:00pm – 8:00pm Phoenix (UTC: -7)
AGENDA: All times are Phoenix (MST):
6:00 PM – Welcome
6:05 PM – Brief Announcements
6: 15 PM – Guest Speaker Presentation
7:15 PM – Q&A and Networking
7:45 PM – Phoenix Section Business
8:00 PM – Adjourn
SPEAKER: John Lindland
TOPIC: Concepts of Autonomous Vehicle Safety
ABSTRACT: The presentation will cover many interesting and thought-provoking concepts of autonomous vehicle design safety. By the end of the presentation participants will be able to separate the fantasy of autonomy from the practical reality of autonomous safety.
Autonomy versus closed-loop designs: SAE L1-L5 designs
What is safe enough: What is Free from Unreasonable Risk
An overview of pre-crash scenario, crashes, injury, and fatality statistics
An Overview of Safety Critical Design: Designing for Functional Safety and Continual Improvement (International Standards)
Hazard Functions vs Safety Critical Functions
Proactive versus Reactive Safety Critical Design Approaches
Representative Road Segments,
· What is an Operational Domain Definition (ODD)
· Road Classifications – The Theater
· Representative Road Segments and Collapsing an ODD into a Tractable Risk Model.
· Laminar, Situational, and Turbulent Flow
· First, second, and third order causes of precrash scenarios
· Risks of Violating Right of Way, and Failure to Respond to Predictable Emergent, and Less Predictable Sudden Emergent Events
· Statistical capability of passing and stopping
· Pre-authorized safe escape paths.
· Hazardous Objects vs Objects and Road Structure
A Short Safety Critical Function Review of a Fully Autonomous Design
BIO: Mr. John Lindland has 40 years of international experience in automotive safety critical design and manufacturing.
He has a master’s degree in manufacturing systems engineering (design, materials, and processing) from the University of Michigan. He also holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering (quality and statistics) From Wayne State University, a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, systems and controls, from Michigan Technological University.
He started his career as an automotive engineer for Ford Motor Company (1985). He left Ford to become the Director of Quality for an automotive supplier. And he spent 21 years as an international consultant.
From 2012-2016 he was an active member of Fiat-Chrysler’s Global Functional Safety Steering Committee and its working group (autonomous function design). From 2016-2018 he was a senior principal engineer on Raytheon’s Unmanned Air Systems program (autonomous aircraft).
From 2018-2020 he was the director of Quality and Functional Safety for TuSimple, a Class 8, 80,000-pound SAE Level 4 dock to dock fully self-driving vehicle.
From 2020-2025 Mr. Lindland was an avid researcher, writer, and debater on autonomous vehicle safety. He retired on January 1, 2026, and now lives abroad.
John Lindland is making a paper written by him for people to use as a quality resource, but please give proper bibliographic credit to the author. The paper is "Legacy Automotive and AV Product Liability," June 30, 2025, and here is a link to the paper in the ASQ Phoenix Library:
Phoenix Section - American Society for Quality
LOCATION: via Zoom
COST: Free. Open to all.
We will be using Zoom Meeting to broadcast the March 12, 2026, ASQ Phoenix monthly Program meeting. Register in advance for this meeting:
Zoom registration link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIod-qpqz8vEtFYBJ-Hb6hBB3gLupnqrlFg
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email from Zoom containing the actual meeting link and information about joining the meeting, as well as the option to save the event details to your calendar. Save the confirmation email with the meeting JOIN button.