There is an ever-widening range of automotive electrical and/or electronic (E/E/PE) systems such as adaptive driver assistance systems, anti-lock braking systems, steering and airbags. Their increasing levels of integration and connectivity provide almost as many challenges as their proliferation, with non-critical systems such as entertainment systems sharing the same communications infrastructure as steering, braking and control systems. The net result is a necessity for exacting functional safety development processes, from requirements specification, design, implementation, integration, verification, validation, and through to configuration. ISO 26262 “Road vehicles – Functional safety” was updated in 20181, having first been published in 20112 in response to this explosion in automotive E/E/PE system complexity and the associated risks to public safety3. Like the rail, medical device and process industries before it, the automotive sector based their functional standard on the (largely) industry agnostic functional safety standard IEC 615084 which, in turn, drew heavily from the guiding principles of the aerospace standards such as DO-178B5/C6. The net result is that proven tools are available to help with the implementation of ISO 26262 which are longer established than the standard itself.
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ISO 26262: Road vehicles - Functional Safety for Automotive Systems
ISO 26262 is a functional safety standard for the automotive industry that was first published in 2011 and updated in 2018.
The standard was developed in response to the increasing complexity of automotive electrical and electronic systems, and the associated risks to public safety.
ISO 26262 is based on the industry-agnostic standard IEC 61508, which in turn drew heavily from the aerospace standards such as DO-178B/C. This means that there are proven tools available to help with the implementation of ISO 26262 that have been in use for longer than the standard itself.
Risk management: The standard requires that a risk management process be in place to identify and mitigate hazards associated with the product, and that a safety case be built to demonstrate that the risk of injury or damage to property is acceptably low.
Configuration management: The standard requires that a configuration management process be in place to ensure that the product can be traced and controlled throughout its lifecycle.
Verification and validation: The standard requires that the product be thoroughly tested and validated to ensure that it meets the specified functional safety requirements.