Applying Functional Safety Management and SPICE for Automotive Functions

This paper focuses on applications of safety related functions at Continental based on the requirement of functional safety management. Applications cover the range from driver assistances systems up to the level of active safety systems. Several new functionalities in automotive applications are safety related. Therefore an increasing demand for processes which fulfil IEC 61508 (Functional Safety Management: FSM) and ISO 15504 (SPICE) is present. Standards like ISO 15504 and IEC 61508 are general norms. For automotive applications adaptations are necessary. Automotive industry has derived the norm “Automotive SPICE” in line with the ISO 15504. Similar for the IEC 61508 a new norm ISO WD 26262 will be derived. This paper shows the differences from the standard (ISO15504/IEC61508) compared with the automotive demands and gives an outlook into the future.

Besides looking at the automotive standards in general, this paper describes how the ISO WD 26262 processes are linked to the SPICE world. Experiences made in a project for electric vehicles are taken into account. As a result it will be seen that certain base practices/maturity levels for defined processes of SPICE are necessary for the development of safety relevant software. Anyway, SPICE process only will not cover all requirements from the safety standard. Processes required by IEC 61508 are identified which go beyond Automotive SPICE. As a result it can be seen that SPICE processes can give a framework to use which leaves several degrees of freedom open to the user. The FSM processes will specify in detail what is required to do during which development phase to have finally a working product.