The need to develop specific components for the safety of cars is a constant challenge for designers and manufacturers of components in the car industry. Functional safety is vital in order to ensure the correct operation of electronics and to reduce risks at the wheel.

Cars have evolved from being an essentially mechanical machine to an electronically controlled system, with hundreds of electronic control units (ECUs), view cameras and consequently more and more lines of code.

Designers and engineers face the challenge of making safer cars that offer a comfortable and/or autonomous driving experience, with lower pollutant emissions. To achieve this, these components (ECUs, cameras, etc.) activate functions such as advanced driver assistance, passive safety and engine management systems.

But in addition to the advanced safety functions it brings, functional safety is essential for the development of the electronic control units in a car: its safety circuits must identify electronic operation errors and specify techniques to lower risks. If ECU faults (in hardware and software) are not identified, there is a chain of affected parties running from the ECU supplier to the car manufacturers and the end users.

For this reason, today’s cars must comply with Advanced Safety Integration Level (ASIL) safety standards. This is a risk classification system defined by the ISO 26262 functional safety standard for road vehicles.

The ISO 26262 standard

The ISO 26262 standard is a unique and specific international functional safety standard for cars, for the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and other systems fitted in a vehicle. It includes specific recommendations to guarantee the safety of the system’s hardware and software, and it requires the ASIL standard as a key component for achieving compliance.

It is important that the (hardware and software) components are not only seen as individual systems, but as a whole, and in this way all the applications can function in perfect co-ordination.

At Idneo we offer a comprehensive service developing products that enhance the functional safety of cars. We have the capacity to provide comprehensive development and assessment in compliance with safety standard ISO-26262 up to the ASIL D level.

Contact us here and we will be delighted to help you.