Q: Could you briefly explain your role, involvement and experience in functional safety?
A: I have over 25 years’ experience of working in the safety, security and reliability of automotive electronic systems. I helped develop the industry’s first guidance on functional safety (the 1994 MISRA Guidelines) and more recently have been directly involved since 2005 in the international committee that develops and maintains ISO 26262. I provide training, consultancy and assessment support to customers working with ISO 26262 and related standards.
Q: What are the key issues that engineers should consider with the new edition of ISO26262?
A: Firstly, the scope of the standard is being extended to include other types of vehicles, not just passenger cars. Specifically, motorcycles, trucks and buses are all being included in scope.
Secondly, there are changes to the approaches to demonstrating confidence in systems that have been developed using the standard, specifically around the scope of confirmation reviews and the need for a safety case to be based on an argument.
Thirdly, while cybersecurity is not directly in scope of ISO 26262, the new edition acknowledges that safety planning needs to take account of links and dependencies with other disciplines such as security, and also includes some brief examples of interface points between functional safety and cybersecurity.
Q: How are HORIBA MIRA preparing for the upcoming changes to this functional safety standard?
A: We are already working with customers to help them prepare for transition to the new edition of the standard. We are running training courses to explain the detailed differences proposed for Edition 2 and also training in supporting activities such as constructing an argument-based safety case.
Q: Why is it important for engineers to join seminars like this?
A: By joining a seminar like this you will gain up-to-date information from experts and practitioners in the field. As MIRA’s experts are directly involved in the international committee updating ISO 26262 we bring up-to-date insights on the latest developments.
Q: What developments in automotive safety are you most interested in for the future and why?
A: One of the biggest areas for future development is around highly automated vehicles and functions. ISO 26262 Edition 2 and associated activities (such as the separate document on “Safety of the intended functionality”) are starting to consider some of the needs of functional safety for ADAS functions up to SAE Level 2, but further work is needed to define safety practices applicable to Level 3 and above. MIRA is actively engaged in industry initiatives to define these practices, such as in the
UK Autodrive project.
A further aspect concerns cybersecurity; as noted above there need to be strong links between the engineering processes for functional safety as defined in ISO 26262 and the engineering processes for cybersecurity as defined in SAE J3061 and the proposed joint ISO/SAE standard.
Thanks to David for his insights and food for thought on this functional safety standard.
To join the ISO 26262 seminar on 24 May in Birmingham please visit http://www.imeche.org/ISO_26262. The seminar will feature technical presentations and case studies on how OEMs are adapting to this standard, including Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Group, JCB, ZF TRW, Delphi Diesel Systems and HORIBA MIRA.