Automotive Safety Case – A Qualitative Case Study of Drivers, Usages, and Issues

Paper in proceeding, 2008

The automotive industry is using software and electronics to an increasing degree to realize new functionality that can be considered to be safety related. This qualitative study, with rigorous data analysis, takes the perspective of automotive vehicle manufacturers and explores the drivers, usages and potential issues in relation to a possible introduction of the safety case concept in the automotive industry. The study involves three automotive OEMs contributing access to potential stakeholders of a safety case. The study identifies 18 motivating factors for the introduction of safety cases, e.g. need of engineer design support and a definition of acceptable risk. Further, 21 possible usages of a safety case are identified and classified into five subcategories, e.g. communication and system development. To conclude, the study identifies several drivers for introducing safety cases as well as a wide application area, but also raises questions about their design, required competence, and increased workload.