Automotive: on-board electronics put to the test by ISO 26262

Today’s cars are equipped with electronic and computer systems, notably to assist driving, and offer a heightened sense of security. Tomorrow’s autonomous vehicles will open up new mobility scenarios. Voluntary standards, drawn up by the professionals themselves, accompany the movement.

The massive arrival of electronics in the automotive industry has demanded standardized operating procedures. In particular, to guarantee the functional safety of embedded systems. It would have been illusory to expect to succeed in this revolution without a common language, shared from one player to another, from one industry to another, from one country to another! It was in this spirit that ISO 26262 was born in 2011. It applies the IEC 61508 transverse standard to the automotive sector, and now in a brand new version, dated December 2018.

ISO 26262: a standard for road safety

Declined into twelve parts, ISO 26262 has changed the landscape for the design of E/E (electrical/electronic) functions in automobiles, as well as for motorcycles and trucks, now within the scope of the standard since its revision in 2018. It proposes a set of common methods for judging the security level of embedded hardware or software. Safety, as defined in the text, is characterized by the absence of unacceptable risk induced by system malfunction.

It is calculated according to four levels of integrity (” Automotive Safety Integrity Level”), from the least severe (A) to the most severe (D), and applicable to the system, hardware and software levels. The standard recommends a SafetyAssessment, carried out by experts who give their opinion on the level of safety achieved by the vehicle. This exercise should review all the problems encountered. And to act as a “justice of the peace” for automakers in terms of best safety practices.

ISO 26262: common protocols

The standard also introduces the notion of ” safety concept”. The aim is to analyze the failures that could threaten safety, and specify measures to prevent them through a set of appropriate diagnostics and degraded modes. For example, in the event of a steering system failure which, if left untreated, could lead to an off-road accident, the system can diagnose itself and decide to cut assistance. The customer retains a mechanical link between the steering wheel and the wheels. But to achieve this, standardized protocols need to be defined.

Clearly, without a common methodology, there’s no point relying on technology alone to win the trust of users. Whether you’re a Peugeot or a Renault, “ensuring the safety of a vehicle requires defining a universal vocabulary and agreeing on a common methodological vision for grading risks, which can vary from one country to another depending on local conditions (infrastructure, weather, etc.)” , explains Nicolas Becker, an expert in operational safety for the PSA Group, who helped draft the standard.

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