F2008-10-018
Automotive SPICE Meets Safety
The amount of software in an automobile is increasing rapidly. Software can be found in infotainment systems, navigation systems, but also in safety critical systems, like breaking or powertrain systems. The complexity of such combined software/hardware systems is very high and it poses a great challenge to maintain a high product quality especially if a chain of different suppliers is involved. In order to achieve a high quality during the development of these systems the OEMs expect that their suppliers or to be more precise their development processes have reached a certain requested level of maturity and can prove it through appropriate assessments or appraisals. Currently there are two assessment models which are being used in the automotive industry for this purpose: CMMI® V1.2 (Capability Maturity Model Integration) and Automotive SPICETM V. 2.3 (Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination). Both models examine the engineering processes, as well as appropriate processes and supporting processes like quality assurance or configurations management. However, both models neglect the safety aspects while assessing the maturity of the development processes. So far safety is not within the focus of these maturity models.
In this presentation we present work done to combine the safety aspect with the Automotive SPICE maturity model. We show a mapping between Automotive SPICE V2.3 and the IEC 61508 which is the international standard for functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related systems. This mapping allows the OEM to appraise the quality of the supplier´s development processes, as well as the safety measures anchored in the processes and conducted during the project. The mapping differentiates between the different safety integrity levels (SIL). Depending on the required SIL the necessary actions and methods are highlighted and taken into account during the assessment. The base practices of Automotive SPICE are augmented by these safety measures. Thus, using this mapping an assessment will yield results with respect to the process maturity and safety. Instead of two assessments, one for the process maturity, one for the safety, now one assessment will suffice.
This work builds upon the mapping between ISO 15504 (SPICE) and IEC 61508 which was developed by the working group Safety of the SoQrates initiative (Software Quality Rates Maturity) in a two year effort. Starting January 2008 this mapping will be managed by the VDA (German quality management system for the automobile industry).
® CMMI is a register mark in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Poster presentation: Process challenges in changing economies