Safety Assurance

For over three decades, the University of York has led advancements in ensuring safety-critical systems, impacting sectors such as rail, aerospace, automotive, maritime, and healthcare.

By collaborating with regulators, standards bodies, and industry, we have fostered trust in the complex infrastructure that underpins modern life. Economic and safety demands are driving the adoption of advanced automation and AI in railways. These innovations – ranging from predictive maintenance to on-track object detection and driverless operation – offer immense potential but also introduce risks that require meticulous safety assurance. The University of York has developed detailed guidance for addressing these challenges and is continuing to develop cutting edge techniques to ensure continued safety as technologies continue to evolve.

We support industry and regulators through professional training, standards development, policy consultation, contract research and consulting, ensuring that as rail technologies advance, safety remains uncompromised.

Meet the team

Simon Burton - The Chair of Systems Safety and Business Director, Centre for Assuring Autonomy
Peter Ellison - Lecturer in Engineering, School of Physics, Engineering and Technology
John McDermid OBE, FReng - Professor, Department of Computer Science, Director Institute for Safe Autonomy
Dr John Oyekan - Senior Lecturer, Department of Computer Science
Nick Pears - Professor, Department of Computer Science
Professor Martin Trefzer - Professor, School of Physics, Engineering and Technology
Dr Xing Zhao - Lecturer in Electrical Engineering, School of Physics, Engineering and Technology

Work with us

Partnering with York

Rail expertise

What we're here for

Facilities at York

Hire our commercial facilities