As the marketplace for automotive products becomes more accessible to emerging countries, there is increased pressure from leaders in the industry to develop “global vehicles” or ones that meet the safety/emissions requirements of multiple markets. Meeting the regulatory requirements of multiple countries necessitates proper systems planning and execution at every stage of the design and review process. Whereas, over the past decade, the global regulatory framework has migrated from a two-system framework to a much more complex regulatory framework that is dominated by European-based regulations. And while most of the world follows European-based regulations, the implementation and interpretation of these regulations across the world differs by region and even by country. These different interpretations, and/ or certification/homologation processes and protocols can potentially drive product changes or other implications (e.g., timing, resources, etc.). The understanding of these differences and appropriate management of this information is key to success in today’s Global Automotive environment.
Moreover, regulatory requirements and standards are in general very dense and complex documents and do not follow the usual format of engineering requirements. And they are subjected to changes as the regulatory bodies governing each region or country are constantly reviewing and revising them. Finally, there are regulatory requirements that apply to the complete vehicle level, others that apply to the system level as well as regulatory requirements that apply to the component level. This paper describes a conceptual methodology to capture global regulatory requirements, convert the regulatory text into simple engineering requirements format, communicate the requirements to relevant stakeholders, document performance, demonstrate conformance and control changes.