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The safety validation of Automated Driving Systems (ADSs) needs a combination of tools to ensure testing in a broad range of traffic scenarios. Among the others, virtual testing is expected to play a major role in the future. Differently from other methods, virtual testing allows examining an ADS in complex driving scenarios involving several road users and characterized by any level of criticality in a safe, efficient and effective way. However, before virtual testing can be used in the ADS certification process, proper validation methodologies have to be established to ensure the appropriateness of the simulation-generated evidence to the end of establishing a “virtual proving ground” regardless of the specific ADS. In this context, the present paper summarizes the results of the virtual environment validation exercise which involved a Vehicle-Hardware-in-the-Loop (VeHIL) setup against real-world experiments. The analysis only embraces the longitudinal dynamics due to the limitation of the virtual environment. Nonetheless, the methodology presented can be straightforwardly extended to different toolchains to cover more advanced ADS for the sake of virtual certification. The manuscript has a twofold contribution. On one side, it gives a quantitative estimation of the fidelity level achievable using a state-of-the-art VeHIL environment, thus standing apart from validation activities purely based on qualitative comparisons and contributions mostly concerned with the validation of the ADS itself. Secondly, it provides an end-to-end validation procedure that could be generalized to other cases of study or different testing setups. The results achieved are encouraging as they show an overall good match between real-world and simulated data. However, open issues remain in order to define a complete validation framework for virtual testing environments.

This paper surveys the state-of-the-art contributions supporting the validation of virtual testing toolchains for Automated Driving System (ADS) verification. The work builds upon the well-known limitations of physical testing while conceiving the virtual counterpart as a fundamental ingredient for the type-approval of high automation level ADS. The purpose of the research effort is to summarize computational tools, validation methodologies, and the corresponding fidelity levels delivered by state-of-the-art simulation toolchains. The ultimate goal is to establish how effectively simulation can play the role of a “virtual proving ground” for ADS certification independently from any specific ADS implementation/effectiveness. The contribution includes classic high-level validation approaches and modern specific computational tools that can be adopted depending on the type of data under analysis. Moreover, the investigation covers approaches embraced both within the scientific community and in technical regulations for the sake of completeness. Ultimately, we identified two high-level validation schema: integrated environment and subsystem-based solutions. In addition, we found that modeling and validating virtual sensors for ADS is the most lacking area from a subsystem-level approach. On the other side, the closed-loop interaction between the ADS and other virtual traffic participants makes it difficult to directly compare the experimental results with simulated generated evidence as the emergent behaviors of the ADS may amplify minor discrepancies between the environments.

This paper presents a novel approach to learning predictive motor control via “mental simulations”. The method, inspired by learning via mental imagery in natural Cognition, develops in two phases: first, the learning of predictive models based on data recorded in the interaction with the environment; then, at a deferred time, the synthesis of inverse models via offline episodic simulations. Parallelism with human-engineered control-theoretic workflow (mathematical modeling the direct dynamics followed by optimal control inversion) is established. Compared to the latter human-directed synthesis, the mental simulation approach increases autonomy: a robotic agent can learn predictive models and synthesize inverse ones with a large degree of independence. Human modeling is still needed but limited to providing efficient templates for the forward and inverse neural networks and a few other directives. One could consider these templates as the efficient brain network typologies that evolution produced to permit live beings quickly and efficiently learning. The structure of the neural networks -both forward and inverse ones- is made of interpretable “local models”, which follows the cerebellar organization (and are also similar to local model approaches known in the literature). We demonstrate the learning of a first-round model (contrasted to Model Predictive Control) for lateral vehicle dynamics. Then, we demonstrate a second learning iteration, where the forward/inverse neural models are significantly improved.

Evolution has endowed animals with outstanding adaptive behaviours which are grounded in the organization of their sensorimotor system. This paper uses inspiration from these principles of organization in the design of an artificial agent for autonomous driving. After distilling the relevant principles from biology, their functional role in the implementation of an artificial system are explained. The resulting Agent, developed in an EU H2020 Research and Innovation Action, is used to concretely demonstrate the emergence of adaptive behaviour with a significant level of autonomy. Guidelines to adapt the same principled organization of the sensorimotor system to other agents for driving are also obtained. The demonstration of the system abilities is given with example scenarios and open access simulation tools. Prospective developments concerning learning via mental imagery are finally discussed.

Abstract Preventing traffic accidents is of paramount importance for society's well‐being. The topic is particularly relevant for driving automation given the high expectations about automated vehicles and the difficulty in estimating reliable safety figures for those complex systems. Under this premise, the present manuscript investigates how to derive a safety benchmark model for evasive lane‐change maneuvers that can also be applied in microsimulation frameworks. The approach leverages a jerk‐limited bang‐bang kinematic model for lane‐change and validates its minimum time prediction against other kinematic approaches and vehicle dynamical models based on a robust minimum‐time optimal control formulation. It is shown how kinematic modeling does not embrace steering angle constraints (at low‐speed) and misses the inertia effect (at high‐speed) thus introducing discrepancies. However, due to the introduction of a braking model, it can be safely claimed that the low‐speed discrepancy between the kinematic and the dynamic models lies in a region where stopping is still the most efficient reaction. Moreover, a method is shown to compute the effective lateral acceleration for a kinematic model to match the dynamical system's maneuvering. The kinematic lane‐change model can thus constitute a valid performance benchmark provided that conservative assumptions are used when calibrating its maximum lateral acceleration.

L’article se consacre à l’analyse du roman graphique Notes pour une histoire de guerre (2004) de Gipi, l’un des plus importants auteurs italiens de nos jours. Deux objectifs ont été poursuivis : 1) mettre en évidence les spécificités médiatiques de la littérature graphique consacrée à la mémoire des espaces biographiques ; 2) étudier l’interaction entre les aspects générationnels et historiques qui caractérisent l’invention hétérochronique au centre du livre. En particulier, le thème fantastique, métaphorique et géopolitique de la guerre permet à Gipi d’aborder, à partir de son territoire d’origine, près de Pise, quelques nœuds décisifs de la réalité socio-culturelle de l’Italie d’aujourd’hui.

Il saggio delinea alcuni aspetti salienti del rapporto che lega Antonella Anedda alle arti della visione, con particolare riferimento a due dispositivi di dis-identificazione ravvisabili nel suo sguardo di scrittrice: quello che disubbidisce alla distanza e quello che ritaglia il dettaglio. La verifica di queste ipotesi teoriche viene fatta su alcune pagine del volume La vita dei dettagli (2009).

The current paper discusses the most recent advancements in automated vehicle (AV) certification and how existing regulations/best practices from the nuclear field helped make AVs a reality. In particular, three main pillars differentiate the newly devised certification frameworks from previous automotive regulations: the introduction of a safety management system, the adoption of in-service monitoring and reporting data logging systems, and the use of virtual testing to demonstrate the safety of the AV; a set of pillars that are also found in the nuclear practice. The argumentation is informed by relevant literature and shared experiences from the nuclear power plant and transportation fields where there are established safety practices to manage safety-critical cyber-physical systems. Although the nuclear and transportation fields might seem unrelated, strong synergies were found, including risk management approaches and operational data collection procedures, which supported the timely drafting of the new regulation for AVs. Nonetheless, some open challenges remain due to peculiar aspects of AVs that will need to be addressed in the near future. Namely, practical methodologies for the residual-risk calculation for the various Operational Design Domains (ODDs), the design of scalable monitoring techniques, and the definition of detailed procedures for the virtual testing tool qualification.

Il contributo prende le mosse dalle reazioni di scrittori e intellettuali, tra seconda metà dell'Ottocento e inizi del Novecento, al sogno architettonico di una utopica «sincerità» (culturale, etica, psicologica e in ultima istanza sociale e politica) raggiunta attraverso l'uso delle costruzioni in vetro. In continuità con il volume Critica della trasparenza (2016), il contributo mette in luce come la letteratura europea si sia misurata in termini ora entusiastici ora polemici con l'idea di un portato veritativo e socialmente rivoluzionario connesso alla trasparenza architettonica.

In occasione del centenario fortiniano, nel novembre 2017 Salvatore Ritrovato, Antonio Tricomi e il sottoscritto hanno organizzato presso l'Università di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, dove insegnano, un seminario dal titolo “...un intellettuale, un letterato, dunque un niente". Eredità di Franco Fortini, i cui atti stanno per essere pubblicati dalla rivista «L'ospite ingrato». Per l'occasione ho realizzato delle brevi clip intervistando tre poeti italiani che, ciascuno a suo modo, mi paiono rappresentativi dell'attuale scenario della scrittura in versi: Elisa Biagini, Paolo Maccari, Guido Mazzoni. Non considero il progetto concluso, e altri nomi potrebbero aggiungersi in futuro. Agli autori interpellati, che qui ringrazio per la loro disponibilità, ho chiesto di leggere, o recitare, un testo fortiniano e poi di rispondere sinteticamente a tre delle seguenti domande: • In che misura avverte, o non avverte, l'eredità dell'opera di Franco Fortini nel suo percorso creativo? • L'idea che il qui e ora della storia individuale debba essere continuamente verificato alla luce dei destini generali è una costante della poesia di Fortini. Considera ancora attuale questa posizione, in un'epoca dove la dimensione collettiva dei problemi appare sempre più centrale ma anche, drammaticamente, sempre meno afferrabile, e affrontabile? • Ha scritto Giovanni Raboni: «Fortini continuava a intendere l'esercizio letterario anche come un modo di verificare in concreto (nella forma) la propria diversità; politico-culturale prima e meglio che ideologica». Ritiene che l'elemento metrico, retorico, stilistico come forma di resistenza al contesto politico, culturale e linguistico vigente continui a giocare un ruolo importante nella poesia di questi anni, e nella sua opera in particolare? • Tra le responsabilità intellettuali di un autore, c'era per Fortini la necessità di sottrarsi al «rumore di fondo» dell'industria culturale tramite una «riduzione della quantità delle scritture», in modo «che le parole scritte abbiano subito delle conseguenze, come i calcoli degli ingegneri e le scelte dei politici» (da Ventiquattro voci per un dizionario di lettere, 1968). Condivide questo invito, e pensa che abbia ancora senso in un contesto di mercato dove invece la superfetazione dei prodotti letterari appare inarrestabile? Quanto alla forma della videointervista, è stata scelta perché oltre a registrare le parole di un poeta su un altro poeta, consente di restituire squarci di un luogo, tracce di un momento storico, tratti d'un profilo umano e intellettuale, rendendoli presenti al presente e consegnandoli al futuro.

Piero Bigongiari (1914-1997), un des plus grands poètes italiens du XXe siècle, donnait de lui-même cette définition : « un sédentaire qui se déplace ». Notre article illustre les deux voyages aux origines de la civilisation occidentale, effectués dans les années Cinquante en Égypte et en Grèce, ainsi que sa fidélité à la Versilie, où il passa de nombreux étés, fréquentant assidûment le milieu culturel du “Quarto Platano” (“Quatrième Platane”) de Forte dei Marmi.

Au cours des années soixante-dix, avant et après la sortie du Casanova de Fellini (1976), écrivains, cinéastes et auteurs de BD travaillent sur la figure de l’aventurier vénitien. Il en résulte le profil d’un écrivain moral, même moraliste, et, en même temps, libertin. Casanova est encore une fois un protagoniste de la culture italienne, mais cette fois le personnage révèle son visage spectral, sa véritable nature de petit-bourgeois avant la lettre, en dépit – ou à cause de – sa bouffonnerie picaresque.

In an 1821 article dedicated to the great German satiric Jean Paul, Thomas de Quincey - the famous author of Confessions of an English opium-eater, a book very beloved by Baudelaire and Poe - asserted that "[...] into every act of the humorous mood there is an influx of the moral nature: rays direct or refracted, from the will and the affections, from the disposition and the temperament, enter into all humour; and thence it is, that humour is of a diffusive quality, pervading an entire course of thoughts". This is an observation that seems to me in line with the landscape traced by Giancarlo Alfano in L'umorismo letterario. Una lunga storia europea, where the humor writing is described as a result of a variety of factors.

L’articolo propone un excursus attraverso la poesia italiana degli ultimi trenta anni a partire da un breve ritratto di alcuni poeti italiani del secondo Novecento che hanno esercitato una notevole influenza sull’opera di Paolo Maccari ed Elisa Biagini, i due autori al centro del n°13 di Italies. Il testo è destinato soprattutto a studenti e lettori francofoni che abbiano voglia di avvicinarsi alla poesia italiana contemporanea ; per questo ogni poeta è inquadrato da un sommario cenno bio-bibliografico e presentato attraverso uno o più testi considerati paradigmatici della sua produzione. Il primo autore preso in considerazione è Bartolo Cattafi, figura fondamentale tanto per Maccari quanto per Biagini, che tuttavia guardano alla sua opera da prospettive profondamente diverse. Seguono le personalità di Valerio Magrelli (Biagini) e di Giovanni Raboni e Patrizia Valduga (Maccari), tre autori particolarmente importanti per le ultimissime generazioni della poesia italiana.

Si propone una sintetica analisi della plaquette Mondanità di Paolo Maccari, pubblicata a Brescia nel 2006, mettendone in rilievo alcuni dei temi portanti, e sottolineando soprattutto la straordinaria volontà dell’autore di non cedere a nessun compromesso letterario, facendo propria la lezione della tradizione poetica italiana allo scopo di affrontare nel modo più lucido (e, inevitabilmente, doloroso) possibile i nodi più scabrosi del mondo attuale.