ISO 26262-8:2018

Overview

ISO 26262-8:2018 - Road vehicles - Functional safety - Part 8: Supporting processes defines the supporting organizational and engineering processes needed to realize functional safety for safety-related electrical/electronic (E/E) systems in series-production road vehicles (excluding mopeds). It provides a framework to integrate functional safety activities into a company-specific development lifecycle, focusing on process requirements (management, verification, configuration, documentation) and selected technical evaluations (tool confidence, software/hardware qualification, proven-in-use). The part also addresses tailoring for alterations, integration of systems not originally developed to ISO 26262, and interfaces in distributed developments. Note: it does not cover nominal performance or hazards unrelated to E/E malfunction (e.g., chemical/fire hazards), unless directly caused by malfunctioning E/E behavior.

Key Topics and Requirements

ISO 26262-8 covers requirements and recommendations for supporting processes, including:

• Interfaces within distributed developments - supplier selection, planning and execution of distributed development, functional safety assessment and production agreements.
• Specification and management of safety requirements - attributes, traceability and lifecycle management of safety requirements.
• Configuration management - baseline control and release management for safety-related artifacts.
• Change management - change request submission, analysis, evaluation, implementation and documentation.
• Verification - verification planning, specifications, execution and evaluation tied to safety goals and ASILs.
• Documentation management - required work products and document control for demonstrable compliance.
• Confidence in software tools - Tool Confidence Levels (TCL), evaluation, qualification and validation of software tools used in safety activities.
• Qualification of software components and evaluation of hardware elements - criteria and verification for reuse or qualification.
• Proven in use arguments - evidence and structuring for reusing existing components.
• Integration of out-of-scope applications and non-ISO-26262 systems - tailoring the safety lifecycle for mixed-origin systems.
• Annex A provides an overview of objectives, prerequisites and required work products.

Applications

ISO 26262-8 is applied to:

• Integrate functional safety into organizational development processes.
• Manage supplier ecosystems and distributed development of safety-critical E/E components.
• Establish traceable verification, configuration and change control workflows.
• Justify reuse (proven-in-use) and qualify third-party tools or components.
• Tailor safety lifecycles when modifying production systems or integrating legacy/non‑compliant subsystems.

Who Should Use It

• Automotive OEMs and tiered suppliers
• Functional safety engineers and systems engineers
• Project managers, quality and configuration managers
• Tool vendors and validation teams
• Auditors and assessors performing ISO 26262 compliance activities

Related Standards

• Other parts of the ISO 26262 series (system, hardware, software, safety management)
• Other dedicated application‑specific safety standards that can complement ISO 26262

Keywords: ISO 26262-8:2018, functional safety, road vehicles, supporting processes, E/E systems, configuration management, verification, tool qualification, proven in use, safety requirements, distributed development.