TACPS 2024 October was held successfully

Congratulations! 🎉🎉🎉 The second TACPS was successfully held in conjunction with ESWEEK 2024 on the 4th of OCT 2024!

Results

• Zheng, X., Li, Z., Ruchkin, I., Piskac, R., and Pajic, M. (2025). NeuroStrata: Harnessing Neurosymbolic Paradigms for Improved Design, Testability, and Verifiability of Autonomous CPS. In Companion Proceedings of the 33rd ACM International Conference on the Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE 2025). Pre-print available https://liby99.github.io/res/papers/neurostrata.pdf.
• Following the preparation and discussions during the workshop, both a Shonan Meeting and a Dagstuhl Seminar proposal were successfully accepted:
  • Shonan Meeting No. 235 on “LLM-Guided Synthesis, Verification, and Testing of Learning-Enabled CPS” to be held in March 2026.
  • Dagstuhl Seminar 202501048 on “Advancing Testability and Verifiability of CPS with Neurosymbolic and Large Language Models” to be held in October 2026.

The 2nd International Workshop on Trustworthy Autonomous Cyber-Physical Systems (TACPS 2024 Oct)

Introduction

Autonomous cyber-physical Systems are rapidly integrating into our everyday lives. These systems are capable of operating and performing tasks without explicit human intervention to various degrees. Such systems span a diverse array of applications, including, but not limited to, self-driving vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, robotic manufacturing systems, autonomous surgical robots, smart home systems, smart farms, autonomous submarines and unmanned space rovers. In a world increasingly reliant on autonomous cyber-physical systems, trustworthiness is not just a topic within academic circles, but also a critical concern in industry. The assurance of reliability, safety, security, fairness, and interpretability of these systems is crucial to their successful deployment and, consequently, the future of our society. This is especially so in view of the impact of AI techniques on the design of CPS systems.

Our meticulously designed program prioritizes verification and validation as a major cross-cutting theme. We recognize the inherent challenges these twin pillars present at every phase of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). From data collection and labelling to AI-centric system design, development, testing, and deployment – every stage demands rigorous validation and verification. Especially with data and learning emerging as critical components, the call for rigorous validation and verification is more pressing than ever.

Furthermore, our discussions will traverse the terrain of real-world fault tolerance, system optimization, and the often underplayed, yet vital aspect of human-machine interaction. We intend to highlight human involvement, not just as system overseers, but also in pivotal roles in system validation, interpretability, and in devising systems with nuanced, human-like reasoning capabilities.

This workshop is set to be a dynamic platform for knowledge exchange. It will draw together researchers from diverse disciplines, such as Software Engineering, Systems, Networking, Program Language, Machine Learning, Human Computer Interaction, Control Theory, Formal Verification, along with industry experts and AI enthusiasts worldwide. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from global leaders in the field, engage in stimulating discussions, and collaborate on innovative solutions to enhance the trustworthiness of autonomous cyber-physical system.

Committee

Workshop Chairs

Dr. Xi Zheng (co-chair), Macquarie University.

Prof. Aloysius K. Mok (co-chair), University of Texas at Austin.

A/Prof. Miroslav Pajic (co-chair), Duke University.

Dr. Amir Khazraei (co-chair), Duke University.

Steering Committee

Dr. Xi Zheng, Macquarie University

Prof. Aloysius K. Mok, University of Texas at Austin

Prof. Insup Lee, University of Pennsylvania

Prof. Oleg Sokolsky, University of Pennsylvania

Prof. Bhaskar Krishnamachari, University of Southern California

Prof. Dakai Zhu, The University of Texas at San Antonio

A/Prof. Ruzica Piskac, Yale University

Program (4th OCT)

9:00-10:00 Welcome/Keynote session (Session Chair: Xi Zheng)

• Welcome Speech (Organizing Chairs: Xi Zheng, Aloysius K. Mok, Amir Khazraei, Miroslav Pajic)
• Keynote – Safety Verification via Deep Learning (Sanjoy Baruah from Washington University in St. Louis)

10:00-10:30: Coffee break

10:30 – 12:30: Session 1 (Session Chair: Ruzica Piskac)

• 10:30-11:15: Invited Talk I – How Safe Will I Be Given What I See? Visual Prediction of Calibrated Safety Chances with (Foundation) World Models (Ivan Ruchkin from University of Florida)
• 11:15-12:00: Invited Talk II – Behavioral Testing and Certification of Autonomous Vehicles (Parasara Sridhar Duggirala from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
• 12:00-12:30: Invited Talk III – Neuro-Symbolic Programming with Scallop (Ziyang Li from University of Pennsylvania)

12:30-13:30: Lunch break

13:30 – 15:00: Session 2 (Session Chair: Miroslav Pajic)

• 13:30-14:15: Invited Talk IV – Formal Methods for Accountable Cyber-physical Systems (Ruzica Piskac from Yale University)
• 14:15-15:00: Invited Talk V – Engineering safe autonomous systems: achievements and challenges(Elena Troubitsyna, KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

15:00-15:30: Coffee break with Dagstuhl and Shonan Seminar Committee meeting

15:30 – 17:00: Session 3 (Session Chair: Xi Zheng)

• 15:30 – 16:15: Invited Talk VI – Current Trends in Neuro-Symbolic Paradigm (Armando Solar-Lezama, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
• 16:15 – 17:00: Panel discussion on the impact of foundation models and the neuro-symbolic paradigm on trusted autonomy (Host: Xi Zheng, Panel Members: Ivan Ruchkin, Miroslav Pajic, Armando Solar-Lezama)