MIRA Sets Standard for Functional Safety

NUNEATON, UNITED KINGDOM – July 29, 2009: Advanced control technologies, promising lower carbon emissions, have edged towards commercial reality through the creation of this safe operating framework.

The long-anticipated functional safety standard for road vehicles, ISO 26262, was published as a Draft International Standard (DIS) on July 8th. ISO 26262 provides a process for managing the safety of complex software-based control systems in vehicles from concept through to eventual decommissioning.

The publication provides the first opportunity for the automotive community to review the draft standard, and marks the beginning of a 5-month consultation period on its contents. Dr David Ward, the UK's Principal Expert on the ISO Working Group, called for the engagement of stakeholders:

“Now that ISO 26262 is publicly available, we would encourage anyone with an interest in automotive functional safety to obtain a copy from their national standards body and to submit comments on the draft."

Dr Ward, explained how MIRA's work in this field has proven instrumental in the development of the DIS:"MIRA has been at the forefront of initiatives to interpret and apply IEC 61508 to the automotive industry, starting with the MISRA Guidelines in 1994, the more recent MISRA Safety Analysis Guidelines in 2007 and now the international standard ISO 26262."

Help is at hand for those needing an expert eye to guide them through the technicalities. Dr Ward explains: "With our track record in MISRA, and now more than 3 years of expert discussions during the preparation of ISO 26262, MIRA is uniquely placed to assist our customers in understanding and applying this important new standard to their products."