ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the importance of uncertainty characterization and propagation in the execution of the vehicle development process (VDP). While the VDP may be viewed from many perspectives, we consider it to be a series of decisions. In the absence of uncertainty, this series of decisions can, in principle, be posed as a very complex multidimensional optimization problem. Decisions, however, are actions taken in the present to achieve an outcome in the future. Because it is impossible to predict the outcomes of these decisions with certainty, the characterization and management of uncertainty in engineering design are essential to the decision making that is the core activity of the vehicle development process.
