Glossary
Updated
Involves designing systems to detect, tolerate, and recover from hardware/software faults without causing harm. Functional-safety standards (ISO 26262, IEC 61508) require hazard analyzes, fail-safe mechanisms, redundancy, formal verification of safety requirements, and safety-life-cycle documentation. Governance ensures safety integrity levels (SIL) are assigned and maintained throughout development and operation.
Example
An autonomous-vehicle OEM builds redundant perception stacks (LiDAR + radar + cameras). Each sensor fusion pipeline runs independently, and a safety monitor cross-checks outputs. If discrepancies occur, the vehicle enters a safe-stop mode. All safety activities and tests are documented per ISO 26262 to achieve ASIL-D certification.