Real-Time Innovations (RTI), a California-based software framework developer for autonomous systems, has announced that foundational components of its RTI Connext Drive are now certified to ISO 26262 ASIL D. This is the most stringent Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) for road vehicles. RTI notes that Connext Drive is already proven-in-use as the underlying software framework for multiple production vehicle models on the road today. Compliance with ASIL D certification provides OEMs with even greater assurance of Connext Drive’s suitability for safety-critical applications, including autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Software-defined capabilities are a fundamental differentiator in autonomous and electric vehicles. To remain competitive, OEMs must continually innovate, and software development agility is essential. However, this can be stymied by automotive software’s rapidly expanding volume and complexity. The need for safety assurance further compounds this challenge.
“Safety, security and reliability are essential in the design of automotive systems,” said Grant Courville, VP of products and strategy at BlackBerry QNX. “With this achievement, RTI joins BlackBerry QNX in offering products certified to the highest level of ISO 26262. Automotive customers can now leverage solutions like the safety-certified Connext Drive and QNX OS for Safety to reduce risk and simplify their overall system certification requirements.”
Connext Drive is claimed to accelerate innovation by allowing OEMs to evolve their autonomous applications quickly and cost-effectively. Unlike legacy electrical/electronic (E/E) architectural approaches designed for static vehicle software, Connext Drive employs an agile data-centric integration paradigm. It allows architects to decompose systems software into fine-grained and loosely coupled ‘microservices’. These services only need knowledge of the types of data they exchange, not of the implementation or even the presence of any other service. Thus, developers can add and update services to introduce new capabilities without having to modify or recertify any other software components. Connext Drive is the first data-centric software framework certified to ASIL D.
“The release of safety certification in Connext Drive further validates the commitment from RTI to help overcome the architectural limitations currently facing the automotive industry, and ultimately impeding the transition to next-generation vehicles,” concluded Pedro López Estepa, market development director, automotive at RTI. “Together with our partner ecosystem, we are leading the automotive software-defined architecture. The new ASIL D safety solution is another pivotal advancement in our successful automotive journey. We are proud to take these positive steps forward and look forward to working with our customers to make the industry safer, more reliable and cost-effective.”
