The automotive world is getting ready to embrace the automated driving (AD). It is necessary to guarantee system safety of the AD application, which includes both “classic” functional safety according to ISO 26262 and specific areas like Safety of the Intended Functionality (SotIF) and others. However, safety remains safety, that is, absence of unreasonable risk. All safety activities, therefore, need to have their source in a Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA), encompassing all relevant aspects, including operational situations, description of functionality and other parameter,
Already from the description it is clear that a HARA for an AD is going to be a complex task. However, automotive engineering is used to management of complexity via task breakdown, equivalence classes and impact analyses. Those well-trusted methods were applied to an AD HARA. A manageable HARA with clear understanding of parameters, relevant to safety, their safe boundaries and safety levels, was obtained.