Introduction

Automotive functional safety, as defined by ISO 26262, relies on a structured requirement management process to ensure the development of safe and compliant systems. However, managing safety requirements effectively across multiple teams, tools, and lifecycle phases presents significant challenges. Poorly structured requirement management can lead to safety gaps, compliance issues, and costly rework.

Problem Statement

Structured requirement management involves systematically capturing, tracing, and validating requirements from the concept phase to implementation and verification. In the automotive industry, functional safety requirements are often complex, hierarchical, and subject to frequent updates. The inability to maintain clear traceability and consistency across work products can lead to inconsistencies, missing safety artifacts, and an increased risk of systematic failures.

Many organizations struggle to integrate structured requirement management with existing development workflows, leading to misalignment between safety goals and implementation. The lack of automation and standardized processes further exacerbates inefficiencies, making compliance with ISO 26262 more challenging.

Key Challenges

1. Requirement Traceability Issues: Difficulty in maintaining end-to-end traceability of safety requirements across the V-model development lifecycle.
2. Version Control & Change Management: Managing frequent updates and ensuring all stakeholders are aligned with the latest requirements.
3. Integration with Development Tools: Lack of seamless integration between requirement management tools and engineering tools (e.g., design, verification, validation).
4. Lack of Standardization: Inconsistent requirement structuring across teams, leading to confusion and misinterpretation.
5. Verification & Validation Complexity: Ensuring that all safety requirements are adequately verified and validated across different test environments.
6. Collaboration Barriers: Poor communication between safety, software, and hardware teams, leading to misaligned expectations.

Conclusion

Effective structured requirement management is critical for achieving functional safety compliance in automotive development. Without a robust process, organizations risk safety gaps, inefficiencies, and compliance failures. In the next blog, we will explore solutions to streamline structured requirement management and align it with functional safety objectives.

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