Software Testing of Automotive Systems

Workshop –

Software Testing of Automotive Systems

Software is now a key differentiator between cars.  Today’s cars can incorporate 70 to 100 microprocessors and up to 100 million lines of code.  This has led to a vast increase in system complexity – and more and more of the vehicle functionality controlled by computers is safety-related, requiring projects to comply with the latest functional safety standards, such as ISO 26262.  The proportion of vehicle costs spent on software is increasing fast, as are the number of engineers involved in the development and testing of automotive software.  At the same time, this software can also be a major source of problems if the required quality is not achieved.

Developers and testers of automotive software now have ISO 26262, Automotive SPICE and AUTOSAR to guide their activities, but, even so, these standards still leave many questions on how to perform good software testing.  In the last few years this gap has been filled by the publication of a set of new international software testing standards (ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119), which provide guidelines for testing at the organizational, management and dynamic test levels.

This training class provides a comprehensive introduction to the software testing of automotive systems, providing an insight into current best practice in the area, and demonstrating how the full set of international standards (both automotive and software testing) can be combined to best effect.

The class initially introduces the fundamental principles of software testing for embedded systems, before then covering the more specialised activities involved with automotive software development and testing and the AUTOSAR framework.  On the final day, the requirements of the different standards (ISO 26262 for functional safety, Automotive SPICE for assessment and improvement and ISO 29119 for software testing) are examined before a combined methodology that takes the best of them all is introduced.

Training expectation

At the end of the class, participants will:

  • be aware of the options available when performing software testing of embedded systems, and specific knowledge of the approaches available for the software testing of automotive systems;
  • have hands-on practice in the design of test cases using various test techniques (such as state transition testing and MC/DC) required when testing automotive software;
  • understand the importance and scope of the ISO 26262 standard for functional safety and how it applies to the software testing of automotive software;
  • be familiar with Automotive SPICE and how it can be used to both assess and improve the software testing on projects involved with the testing of automotive software;
  • be aware of the AUTOSAR standard, and the benefits of using the AUTOSAR architecture, software and methodology;
  • appreciate how the ISO 29119 software testing standards can be adopted for use in automotive projects that follow the ISO 26262 and Automotive SPICE standards.

Audience

This class is aimed at test professionals who either already work in, or intend to work in, the area of automotive software testing and want to be familiar with the current standards and best practices in this area.

This includes people in roles such as test managers, test leads, test analysts, test engineers and test consultants.  A working knowledge of software testing is assumed.

NOTE:  Attendees do NOT need to bring their own computer.

Course length/numbers

No limit on numbers, but with smaller groups the workshop will be more interactive and allow delegates’ specific questions to be addressed.

This can be delivered as either a half-day, full day or two-day workshop.