Dependability Services in the EASIS Software Platform

A notable trend in automotive systems is the composition of
various stand-alone safety applications into so called integrated
safety systems. These systems provide safety services that combine and
extend current functionality in order to increase the level of safety
for the occupants of the vehicle (and to some extent also people
outside the vehicle). Integrated safety systems span across the
traditional functional domains of automotive systems (e.g. powertrain,
chassis, and body) and potentially gather information from, as well as
control functions in, all domains. This requires new approaches to
ascertain attributes such as safety and availability. Another aspect
is the incorporation of telematics services to extend the safety
services of a vehicle. This requires a wider approach for security in
the vehicle, in addition to the more classical dependability
attributes addressed in automotive systems. These upcoming
requirements of the integrated safety systems require extended
services and features from the underlying electrical and electronic
(E/E) architecture. The EASIS project is providing insights and
solutions to these challenges. The main results concerning the
dependability services of the software platform are described in this paper.