ISO 26262 automotive functional safety: issues and challenges

Recently, the automotive industry has been introduced to ISO 26262 in November 2011 to address the necessity of safety risk from sensor to actuator by providing guidance in the form of requirements and processes. The malfunctioning behaviour of these systems could have significant impact on the safety of humans and/or the environment. Most of the modern automobiles are equipped with embedded electronic systems which include lots of Electronic Controller Units (ECUs), electronic sensors, signals, bus systems and coding. Due to the complex application in electrical, electronics and programmable electronics, the need to carry out detailed safety analyses which focuses on the potential risk of malfunction is crucial for automotive systems. In this paper, the international trends on pre and post introduction of ISO 26262 through publications will be analyzed as well as to take a glimpse in the activities for implementing this standard by the automotive manufacturers. The issues and challenges which have been occurring from implementing this standard also will be highlighted.