Assessment of Safety Standards for Automotive Electronic Control Systems

This report summarizes the results of a study that assessed and compared six industry and government safety standards relevant to the safety and reliability of automotive electronic control systems. These standards include ISO 26262 (Road Vehicles - Functional Safety), MIL-STD-882E (Department of Defense Standard Practice, System Safety), DO-178C (Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification), Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, AUTOSAR (Automotive Open System Architecture), and MISRA C (Guidelines for the Use of the C Language in Critical Systems). The assessment was carried out along the following 11 dimensions: (1) type of standard, (2) definition of safety and hazard, (3) identification of safety requirements, (4) hazard and safety analysis methods, (5) management of safety requirements, (6) risk assessment approach, (7) design for safety approach, (8) software safety, (9) system life cycle consideration, (10) human factors consideration, and (11) approach for review, audit, and certification. The observed strengths and limitations of the standards studied in this report could support the future development of a robust functional safety approach for automotive electronic control systems.