GuardAD: Safeguarding Autonomous Driving MLLMs via Markovian Safety Logic

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhang, Tianyuan, Yue, Peng, Peng, Zihao, Liu, Jiangfan, Ying, Zonghao, Wang, Jiakai, Li, Tianlin, Yang, Jian, Yang, Yaodong, Liu, Aishan, Liu, Xianglong
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Zhang, Tianyuan
Yue, Peng
Peng, Zihao
Liu, Jiangfan
Ying, Zonghao
Wang, Jiakai
Li, Tianlin
Yang, Jian
Yang, Yaodong
Liu, Aishan
Liu, Xianglong
author_facet Zhang, Tianyuan
Yue, Peng
Peng, Zihao
Liu, Jiangfan
Ying, Zonghao
Wang, Jiakai
Li, Tianlin
Yang, Jian
Yang, Yaodong
Liu, Aishan
Liu, Xianglong
contents Multimodal large language models (MLLMs) are increasingly integrated into autonomous driving (AD) systems; however, they remain vulnerable to diverse safety threats, particularly in accident-prone scenarios. Recent safeguard mechanisms have shown promise by incorporating logical constraints, yet most rely on static formulations that lack temporally grounded safety reasoning over evolving traffic interactions, resulting in limited robustness in dynamic driving environments. To address these limitations, we propose GuardAD, a model-agnostic safeguard that formulates AD safety as an evolving Markovian logical state. GuardAD introduces Neuro-Symbolic Logic Formalization, which represents safety predicates over heterogeneous traffic participants and continuously induces them via n-th order Markovian Logic Induction. This design enables the inference of emerging and latent hazards beyond single-step observations. Rather than simply vetoing unsafe actions, GuardAD performs Logic-Driven Action Revision, where inferred safety states actively guide action refinement without modifying the underlying MLLM. Extensive experiments on multiple benchmarks and AD-MLLMs demonstrate that GuardAD substantially reduces accident rates (-32.07%) while slightly improving task performance (+6.85%). Moreover, closed-loop simulation evaluations, together with physical-world vehicle studies, further validate the effectiveness and potential of GuardAD.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_10386
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle GuardAD: Safeguarding Autonomous Driving MLLMs via Markovian Safety Logic
Zhang, Tianyuan
Yue, Peng
Peng, Zihao
Liu, Jiangfan
Ying, Zonghao
Wang, Jiakai
Li, Tianlin
Yang, Jian
Yang, Yaodong
Liu, Aishan
Liu, Xianglong
Artificial Intelligence
Multimodal large language models (MLLMs) are increasingly integrated into autonomous driving (AD) systems; however, they remain vulnerable to diverse safety threats, particularly in accident-prone scenarios. Recent safeguard mechanisms have shown promise by incorporating logical constraints, yet most rely on static formulations that lack temporally grounded safety reasoning over evolving traffic interactions, resulting in limited robustness in dynamic driving environments. To address these limitations, we propose GuardAD, a model-agnostic safeguard that formulates AD safety as an evolving Markovian logical state. GuardAD introduces Neuro-Symbolic Logic Formalization, which represents safety predicates over heterogeneous traffic participants and continuously induces them via n-th order Markovian Logic Induction. This design enables the inference of emerging and latent hazards beyond single-step observations. Rather than simply vetoing unsafe actions, GuardAD performs Logic-Driven Action Revision, where inferred safety states actively guide action refinement without modifying the underlying MLLM. Extensive experiments on multiple benchmarks and AD-MLLMs demonstrate that GuardAD substantially reduces accident rates (-32.07%) while slightly improving task performance (+6.85%). Moreover, closed-loop simulation evaluations, together with physical-world vehicle studies, further validate the effectiveness and potential of GuardAD.
title GuardAD: Safeguarding Autonomous Driving MLLMs via Markovian Safety Logic
topic Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.10386