Proposal of a functional safety process for distributed development of safety-related systems

This paper proposes a process for a safety oriented development of new vehicle control systems, safety electronics and interconnected vehicle systems. This safety process integrates elements of IEC 61508 and other existing safety standards from various domains. It applies the process to automotive applications and supports to make it operational by BMW. The development of the active steering that was introduced for the new BMW 5 series serves as an example to discuss the main steps of the proposed process. Special emphasis is given to the problems concerning the coordination between car manufacturer and supplier in a distributed development environment.