• • • SAFETY IN ENGINEERING • • •
Improving the safety and reliability of automotive software
through formal verification By Caroline Guillaume, CEO, TrustInSoft
M
odern motor vehicles grow more complex by the day. In decades gone by, a skilled mechanic with the right parts and tools could diagnose and fix all but the most challenging of issues. Even an enthusiastic amateur armed with a trusty Haynes manual and a spare Sunday afternoon could carry out basic maintenance on certain parts. That has all changed with the rise of the digital car. Today, vehicles are essentially data centres on wheels, executing millions of lines of software to provide the comfort and performance that road users require.
This trend is only set to continue, and more features and functionality are increasingly integrated into vehicles. Advanced driver- assistance systems (ADAS), and the shift to EVs, add further layers of complexity to already incredibly complex machines. With software rather than hardware now underpinning so much of a vehicle’s operations, this poses challenges for ensuring safety and reliability. The automotive industry is one of the most heavily regulated around and any new innovation, whether software or hardware, must be extensively tested to ensure that vehicle occupants are safe, and that vehicles do not unexpectedly or dangerously break down. If an errant line of code can potentially cause a risk, then it needs to be found and fixed. Searching for this needle within a haystack of millions of lines of code, is an ongoing challenge for the industry.
ISO 26262 is the applicable standard for functional safety in electrical and electronic systems in road vehicles. The standard defines
various Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASILs) and is an adaptation of Safety Integrity Level (SIL) used in automotive and other industries. There are four classifications (ASIL A, ASIL B, ASIL C and ASIL D), which determine the integrity requirements of the product. When it comes to software, the standards are increasingly having to play catchup with new innovations in AI and machine learning, as well as new developments in cybersecurity. ISO 26262, AUTOSAR, and DO-178C all have provisions for the regulatory compliance of software, but certification can still be a challenge given the increasing pace of change, and the increasing complexity of systems.
Cyber security in relation to motor vehicles has its own standard: ISO 21434. This focuses on addressing risks throughout the entire vehicle life cycle, with the aim of mitigating any risks and vulnerabilities. The safety implications of car cyber-crime are extremely concerning for motorists, and so ISO 21434 provides a framework through which manufacturers can seek to identify, assess and mitigate any potential threats. Crucially, this all needs to happen before the vehicle reaches the market to eliminate the likelihood of customer incidents and recalls. TrustInSoft offers a range of solutions to help the automotive industry achieve compliance in a complex regulatory landscape. For instance, its software analysis solutions ensure the absence of any software flaws in order to simplify and streamline certification processes. These solutions can also help to eliminate any hint of software
vulnerabilities that could compromise security and safety.
The majority of software bugs and security vulnerabilities in software are caused by memory safety errors. Common memory-related errors include buffer overflows, memory leaks and integer overflows. Traditional testing techniques have in the past been ill-equipped to detect these issues, necessitating the use of more sophisticated and expensive verification. They may also miss issues that only occur under highly specific conditions. TrustInSoft uses formal verification to provide mathematically proven memory safety guarantees to ensure that errors cannot find their way through testing and into the market. TrustInSoft Analyser is a modular tool that is capable of integrating seamlessly with AUTOSAR toolchains. This streamlines the process for developers looking to incorporate formal verification into their existing CI/CD and AUTOSAR workflows, while also flagging up potential vulnerabilities early in the cycle. The company is ISO 26262-qualified, and can help to achieve code correctness and safety integrity up to ASIL-D. For a motorist or passenger, error-free software is a fundamental requirement, and can be difference between life and death. As such, automotive manufacturers are all too aware that it is not something to take chances on. TrustInSoft’s formal verification can help automotive manufacturers to reduce errors, speed up time to market, and ensure compliance, all without compromising on safety and security.
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • MAY 2025 33
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