ISO 26262 – Functional Safety Standard

The ISO 26262 standard is a risk-based safety standard derived from the IEC 61508. The purpose of the standard is to ensure automotive equipment and systems are safe throughout their lifetimes. The standard also applies to driver assistance, propulsion, and vehicle dynamics control systems.

ISO 26262 covers the potential dangers posed by the malfunctioning behavior of E/E safety-related systems and their interaction. Electric shock, fire, smoke, heat, radiation, toxicity, flammability, reactivity, corrosion, energy release, and similar risks are not addressed unless caused by failing E/E safety-related systems.

ISO 26262 ensures that automotive components are designed with a high level of safety from the start. This standard provides guidelines for the entire automotive safety life cycle; from overall risk management to individual component development, production, operation, service, and decommissioning. ISO 26262 accounts that manufacturers would attempt to reduce development time, by building hardware and software concurrently in an increasing number of automotive electronic systems. The ISO 26262 has developed detailed guidelines for concurrent hardware and software development and testing, highlighting the significance of testing both together to achieve the highest levels of safety.