Page 34 - EE Times Europe Magazine - June 2025

34 EE|Times EUROPE

OPINION | AUTONOMOUS DRIVING | SAFETY AND SECURITY

Maintaining Automotive SAFETY FIRST

System Safety and A key challenge facing automotive OEMs is
that standards are changing as rapidly as the
technologies they regulate. Navigating these
Security Through evolving standards is essential for ensuring
vehicle safety, reducing development risks,
and efficiently bringing vehicles to market
Automated Verification while avoiding undesirable, expensive delays.
OEMs must collaborate closely with reg-
ulators to ensure that their systems comply
with the mandates and are protected against
By Jay Thomas, LDRA operational risks. It’s also important for OEMs
to work with partners who understand the
standards as well as they do. After all, third-
Safety and security have always been cornerstones of party software must ultimately comply with
automotive design. With the rising complexity of software in the standards when used within the vehicle.
automotive systems, building safe and reliable vehicles requires The most stringent standards even require
extensive verification of software to meet the requirements of verification of the development environment
standards such as ISO 26262 and ISO 21448. Further complicating and the tools used to design, build, and test
design is the need for security that is flexible and agile enough to the system.
evolve with ever-changing cyber threats.
In the past, the pace of innovation resulted in software updates SECURITY
every year or so. Development teams could allocate months for The increasingly software-defined architec-
testing and verification of software. However, with the advent of technologies such as artifi- ture of vehicles means that a greater part of
cial intelligence and the emphasis on predictive maintenance and continuous improvement, overall functionality, performance, and safety
the pace of innovation has accelerated significantly. is reliant on software. As this software can be
Now, engineers employing development approaches such as continuous integration and updated either through a port by a mechanic
continuous delivery (CI /CD) must be able to design, test, verify, and deliver software or over the air using a wireless link, it is also
continuously—reducing the time to market to mere days when important updates must be vulnerable to hacking. In other words, the
made, such as those required when a security vulnerability has been exposed. Nevertheless, ability to update software that lets devel opers
safety standards still require comprehensive testing and verification of software before it leverage the efficiency benefits of CI/CD
can be deployed. Developers need to accelerate testing and verification without compromis- also exposes the vehicle to cyber threats.
ing coverage or safety. Thus, cybersecurity has become an even more
This article explores how automating the verification process throughout the design cycle important concern for automotive OEMs.
enables developers to embrace efficient development processes such as CI/CD with confi- The ISO/SAE 21434 compliance framework
dence and accelerate their ability to deliver software compliant with automotive safety and focuses on cybersecurity for road vehicles.
security standards. The framework outlines the responsibilities
of stakeholders throughout the develop-
ment lifecycle to mitigate cybersecurity
risks and ensure systems’ resilience against
cyber threats. It also promotes a proactive
approach to security that requires cyberse-
curity to be an integral part of development
during all design stages, from conception to
decommissioning.
When hackers exploit a new vulnerability,
time is of the essence, depending on the risk
the hack poses. If the vulnerability allows
hackers to affect the safety of the vehicle
and its occupants, an update patching the
vulnerability needs to be released as soon as
reasonably feasible. As with any update, the
patched system must be verified for com-
pliance with safety standards before being
released. CI/CD allows verification of each
update as it is developed, which allows for
iteration in the remediate process.
Navigating the rapidly evolving and stringent standards with an automated process is OPTIMIZING THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
essential for ensuring vehicle safety, reducing development risks, and efficiently bringing As illustrated in the examples above, veri-
vehicles to market while avoiding undesirable and expensive delays. fication of compliance to standards can be

JUNE 2025 | www.eetimes.eu