ISO 26262 is the special‑purpose standard for functional safety of road vehicles issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Developed specifically for automotive electrical and electronic (E/E) systems, it reduces safety risks triggered by systematic failures through systematic process control. Serving as a core compliance basis for the automotive industry, it has been incorporated into market‑access requirements in some countries and regions.

It applies to all elements of E/E systems for mass‑produced passenger cars and commercial vehicles, including hardware (sensors, ECUs, etc.), software (control algorithms, etc.) and full‑life‑cycle processes. Its core objective is to prevent hazardous events caused by system failures and safeguard the safety of vehicle occupants and other road users through risk classification, process control and verification & validation.

The core framework of the standard is built upon the safety life cycle, covering all phases from concept, development, production and operation to decommissioning. Closed‑loop activities such as hazard analysis, requirement definition, design implementation and verification & validation shall be performed at each phase. Among them, ASIL (Automotive Safety Integrity Level) represents the core risk‑classification system. It is divided into four levels A, B, C and D (Level D being the highest) according to Severity (degree of harm), Exposure (probability of risk occurrence) and Controllability (ability to avoid hazards). A higher level imposes stricter requirements on process documentation, test verification and fault‑tolerant design, which directly determines the rigor of the development workflow.

The core workflow consists of five steps:

First, hazard analysis and risk assessment: identify failure scenarios and determine the ASIL level;

Second, safety requirement definition: translate the safety level into functional and technical safety requirements;

Third, design and implementation: carry out hardware‑software design corresponding to the safety level and embed fault‑tolerant mechanisms such as redundancy design and fault detection;

Fourth, verification and validation: verify compliance with requirements via simulation, bench testing, real‑vehicle testing and other means;

Fifth, management and documentation: maintain traceable and auditable development documents throughout the whole process.

Three key points shall be observed during implementation:

First, cross‑supply‑chain collaboration: vehicle manufacturers, component suppliers, software developers and other parties shall clarify safety responsibilities and comply jointly with the standard;

Second, focus on “systematic prevention of safety failures”: different from conventional quality control, risks shall be eliminated at the source;

Third, dual compliance of tools and processes: simulation and testing tools adopted for development shall pass qualification certification to guarantee reliability.

It delivers remarkable industry value: it can reduce safety‑accident rates of E/E systems and improve product competitiveness; unify industry safety‑development specifications so as to lower technical barriers and communication costs; support the safe deployment of new‑technologies such as autonomous driving and smart cockpit, and facilitate the intelligent transformation of the automotive industry.