Technical Paper
Enabling Efficient Functional Safety Audits - The Missing Link between ISO 26262 and Automotive SPICE
2019-04-02
2019-01-0144
In the field of electric and electronic (E/E) design for the automotive industry, there are separate traditions related to functional safety and software quality assurance. Both relying on the evaluation of the processes used; Automotive SPICE provides detailed guidance on how to perform this evaluation whilst ISO 26262 does not and simply mention Automotive SPICE as one possible solution. ISO 26262 additionally requires for an evaluation of the functional safety achieved by the product and uses the process evaluation (or functional safety audit in ISO 26262 terms) to support the final functional safety assessment. The purpose is to evaluate the implementation of the necessary safety processes according to the claimed scope defined in the safety plan. Automotive SPICE does not make a distinction on whether the application of the software under evaluation is safety related or not.