Software Testing Tools for ISO 26262
Achieve compliance with certified software testing & static analysis
ISO 26262
Software Safety Standards for the Automotive Industry
ISO 26262, titled "Road Vehicles – Functional Safety," is the international functional safety standard for electrical and electronic (E/E) systems in production road vehicles. It provides a risk-based framework for managing functional safety throughout the entire development lifecycle, from concept and system design through implementation, verification, production, operation, service, and decommissioning.
The standard introduces Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASIL A–D) to classify safety requirements according to the severity, exposure, and controllability of potential hazards. ASIL D represents the highest level of safety integrity and applies to systems where failures could lead to life-threatening or fatal injuries.
Why is ISO 26262 Important?
Modern vehicles rely on increasingly complex software to control safety-critical functions such as braking, steering, powertrain, battery management, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and autonomous driving capabilities. ISO 26262 provides a structured development process that helps manufacturers and suppliers identify hazards, manage risks, and demonstrate that safety objectives have been achieved throughout the product lifecycle.
Compliance with ISO 26262 has become an industry expectation across the global automotive supply chain. OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers commonly require evidence that software has been developed using processes consistent with the standard, making functional safety an essential requirement for market access as well as regulatory and customer confidence.
Static Analysis for ISO 26262 Compliance
Part 6 of ISO 26262 addresses product development at the software level, providing tables defining the necessary methods to achieve compliance with the standard.
Static Analysis is particularly valuable in meeting clause 8, “Unit design and implementation,” within part 6 of the standard. QA-MISRA ensures the software adheres to coding standards specified in section 5.4.7 and required by section 8.4.3.d.
For more information on Static Analysis, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Our “QA-MISRA Safety Manual” summarizes the ISO 26262 static analysis recommendations by ASIL and how QA-MISRA and Astrée support these requirements.
Start a free trial of QA-MISRA to evaluate your code against MISRA, AUTOSAR, CERT C/C++, CWE and other coding standards to ensure automated compliance with ISO 26262.
Unit & Integration Testing for ISO 26262 Compliance
Section 6 of ISO 26262 recommends unit and integration testing. The Cantata testing tool enables developers to automate their unit and integration testing and verify ISO 26262 compliant code on host native and embedded target platforms.
Cantata helps accelerate compliance with the standard’s dynamic testing requirements by automating:
- Test framework generation
- Test case generation
- Test execution
- Results diagnostics and report generation
Please contact us for more information on Cantata for ISO 26262.
The ISO 26262 dynamic testing recommendations by ASIL and how these are supported by Cantata are summarised in our White Paper “Cantata Standard Briefing ISO 26262”
Start a free trial & get a complete copy of Cantata to evaluate using your code.
Tool Certification & Qualification
ISO 26262, Part 8 section 11, defines the qualification process for software tools. Accordingly, our dynamic testing tool, Cantata, has been classified and certified by SGS-TÜV GmbH, an independent third-party certification body for functional safety, accredited by Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH (DAkkS). Cantata has achieved a Tool Confidence Level (TCL) 1 classification, making it suitable for developing safety-related software according to ISO 26262:2018, up to Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) D.
Regarding our static analysis tool, QA-MISRA, its Tool Qualification Support Kit (QSK) automatically executes a comprehensive tool qualification verification test suite on the installed tool configuration and generates necessary reports for ISO 26262 tool qualification.
These ISO 26262 tool kits are designed to facilitate our customers’ path to certification. They include everything necessary to18px demonstrate that Cantata and QA-MISRA instill the required confidence in using software tools, aligning with ISO 26262 recommendations. Additionally, the kits provide comprehensive and detailed guidance on leveraging these tools to comply with the necessary software verification activities of ISO 26262.
Please contact us for more information about these tool kit.
Whether you’re evaluating tools or have technical questions, please contact us.