Every engineered system has risks: risks to people, risks to the environment, and risks to the surrounding infrastructure. Functional safety is the planned reduction of those risks through automated safety systems. This involves a holistic analysis – evaluating all of a vehicle’s systems as an entire working unit to determine how the vehicle’s hardware and software interact and how it responds to user inputs and the environment in which it is expected to function.

Functional Safety Management (ISO 26262), a functional safety standard, is one of the latest changes in the Automotive Industry that is being driven due to a fundamental change in technology. Mostly it is being felt in the Electric Car Industry that has significant safety risk due to the immaturity of the electric car technology, but it is also present in the regular automobile industry as hardware and software complexity increases.

The need for Functional Safety Management (ISO 26262) has accelerated in the Automotive and Electronics/High Tech industry. This need is fueled by the agreement of 20 OEMs with NHTSA on Autonomous braking. Additionally, the race for Autonomous cars and development of E-Cars have shown a very significant need for Functional Safety Management (ISO 26262). While the Functional Safety based product development has significantly revved up, organizations are still plagued with a lack of knowledge and understanding on Functional Safety Management (ISO 26262), a need for employees with functional safety competency, and integrated management systems practices and software systems.

Contact us to learn more!