Safety and Cybersecurity Analysis of Autonomous Shuttles

ISO 26262

Autonomous vehicles are associated with new hazards compared with conventional vehicles. The risks are due to the fact that the system must replace the driver’s decision making. This approach is very effective so long as the functionality of the system is ensured in a secure and safe manner. To solve this challenge, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) proposed ISO 26262, ‘Road vehicles – functional safety’. The project aimed to apply ISO 26262 to autonomous vehicle development and to couple functional safety with cybersecurity issues.

Project and objectives

ROSAS has realized this challenging and innovative project with its knowledge of the safety and security aspects.The goal of the project was to apply the functional safety techniques on the critical systems of the vehicle then identify the safety levels and the safety mechanisms adapted to the vehicle.

In summary, ROSAS has performed following items:

1. Definition of the Safety functions to become active in a critical scenario to prevent accidents and damages.
2. Identification of critical risks/danger regarding the different operation mode of Shuttle due to the electronic and software failures.
3. Calculation of Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) based on critical risks and consequence of the failures
4. Identification of Functional Safety requirements to be considered during the development of the critical systems.
5. Cybersecurity requirements for external interfaces such as GPS.
6. Functional Safety concept for illustrating how shuttle could be technically safe in a critical scenario.
7. Distributing the safety requirements on the system’s architecture.

These items have been applied on following systems of the shuttle:

1. Autonomous steering system
2. Brake systems including the emergency brake system
3. Communication, Navigation and Surveillance systems
4. Electric Powertrain & Power Supply systems
5. Doors system