Functional Safety | ISO 26262

Automotive standard on the safety of electronic control units (ECU)

Software is the most important driver of automotive innovations. And this is why software must be developed to an appropriate level of safety to ensure that, in the case of a fault or error, neither the driver of a particular vehicle or other road users should suffer any harm. The basic principle of this is functional safety. In this regard, particular attention will in future be paid to autonomous driving functions. The focus will necessarily be extended considerably and the implementation of safety measures will have to be redefined in the process.

This standard must be used due to product liability risks. Together with the increasing complexity of E/E systems in vehicles, standard-compliant engineering and development are also becoming ever more challenging. The methodology must be optimized, particularly in the areas of software engineering and testing.

Functional Safety and ECU Communication

On the basis of the ASIL classification of a vehicle function, a decision is made as to whether it has to be treated in accordance with aspects relevant to ISO 26262. If this is the case, safeguarding must include ensuring ECU functions run safely in operation.

For this purpose, it is necessary to access a range of ECU functions - whether internal functions or functions which are available as a matter of course in ECU communication.