Safety & security architecture for automotive ICs

Yash Saini & Arun Jain (Freescale Semiconductors)
EDN (September 25, 2013)

The automotive industry is changing rapidly to address the stringent requirements for safety and security of vehicular systems. Requirements are not only coming from customers, but regulatory authorities are also pressuring for greater safety and security in vehicles. The requirements include high bandwidth networks, improved data security, enhanced functional safety, and reduced energy consumption.

The ISO 26262 standard defines functional safety for automotive equipment applicable throughout the lifecycle of all automotive electronic and electrical safety-related systems. The standard is an adaptation of the Functional Safety standard IEC 61508 for Automotive Electric/Electronic Systems.

Automotive systems need to be protected against any real-time defects to make it safe for use. Real-time defects can include internal and external errors (e.g., the vehicular communication network).

Automotive data security ranges from vehicle theft protection to enabling secure communication with external devices such as smart phones, MP3 players, or navigation devices. Security also means protection against hackers. After gaining access, a hacker could control everything from the entertainment system to braking.

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