Dublin, May 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Vehicle Functional Safety and Safety Of The Intended Functionality (SOTIF) Research Report, 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
Multiple Mandatory Standards for Intelligent Vehicles in China Upgrade Functional Safety Requirements from Recommended to Mandatory Access Criteria
In 2026, China has intensively issued and promoted a number of mandatory national standards for intelligent vehicles, comprehensively strengthening the requirements for Functional Safety (FuSa) and Safety of The Intended Functionality (SOTIF), and setting a clear safety baseline for intelligent vehicles.
For example, in September 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the draft for comments on Safety Requirements for Combined Driving Assistance Systems of Intelligent Connected Vehicles, China's first mandatory national standard for L2 driving assistance systems.
It specifies that the functional safety and SOTIF requirements for combined driving assistance systems shall comply with the applicable requirements of GB/T 34590 (all parts) and GB/T 43267, and elaborates on such requirements through Appendix C and Appendix D. In accordance with the standard, the combined driving assistance regulations have upgraded functional safety requirements from recommended standards to mandatory access criteria for the first time. Mainstream automakers have generally made ISO 26262 functional safety certification a standard configuration in the development of L2, L2+ and higher-level products to meet current regulatory requirements and future compliance expectations.
Functional Safety and SOTIF Design Strategies for L3 Autonomous Driving Systems
In February 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the draft for comments on Safety Requirements for Autonomous Driving Systems of Intelligent Connected Vehicles, which will replace GB/T 44721-2024 General Technical Requirements for Autonomous Driving Systems of Intelligent Connected Vehicles to become the first mandatory national standard for L3 and L4 autonomous driving systems.
The standard specifies the technical requirements, assurance requirements and type approval criteria for autonomous driving systems of intelligent connected vehicles, and describes the corresponding inspection methods for assurance requirements, safety file inspection and confirmation tests, as well as clearly defining the functional safety goals for hazards related to L3/L4 autonomous driving systems.
In terms of human-machine interaction safety, a driver takeover early warning mechanism is set up: considering the characteristic that drivers are prone to fatigue under congested working conditions, a progressive early warning strategy is adopted, which is gradually upgraded from mild prompts to strong alarms.
In addition to Changan and BAIC, automakers such as Li Auto, BYD, XPeng, Xiaomi and VOYAH are also actively carrying out road tests of L3 conditionally intelligent driving models and promoting the road test process of their L3 models.
Functional Safety Design Strategy for Steer-by-Wire (SBW) Systems
China's new mandatory national standard Basic Requirements for Vehicle Steering Systems will be implemented on July 1, 2026, fully replacing the current GB17675-2021 standard. To address new special technologies such as steer-by-wire (SBW) and Electric Power Steering (EPS), the new standard deletes the mandatory requirements for relevant mechanical connections, shifting the focus from mechanical structure to functional safety. For the functional safety of SBW systems, the new standard emphasizes the following:
The core focus of achieving functional safety compliance for SBW systems is to ensure that the system can still maintain controllable steering function or safe parking in the event of any single or even multiple reasonably foreseeable faults through heterogeneous, fully redundant hardware and software design, coupled with millisecond-level fault diagnosis and processing mechanisms, and extremely stringent fault injection and redundancy switch verification under the framework of the mandatory ASIL D level. As one of the hot technologies for the development of future intelligent vehicles, major suppliers and automakers are actively deploying compliant SBW system products.
Exploration of AI Functional Safety and SOTIF Solutions Empowered by Automotive AI Safety Standards
With the wide application of AI large models and AI Agents in the automotive field and the gradual popularization of functions such as autonomous driving and intelligent cockpits, the safety of automotive AI systems has become a key focus. Problems such as the unexplainability of AI systems, data dependence and potential systematic failures have prompted the urgent need to address the safety of AI systems applied in automobiles.
In 2025, based on in-depth interpretation of standards and engineering practice, HiRain Technologies built a 3-in-1 AI safety solution of "safety process, safety framework and safety platform", providing a full-chain technical support for the safe development of intelligent vehicles. In response to the characteristics of AI electrical architecture such as application-driven, hierarchical decoupling, safety integration and innovative expansion, HiRain Technologies proposed a unified safety framework definition solution, abstracting the software functional safety implementation of AI systems into four key technologies: secure communication, secure isolation, secure monitoring and secure actuation. Through platform-based functional safety middleware and security component technologies, the implementation difficulty is significantly reduced.
Key Topics Covered:
1 Definition and Development of Standards & Policies for Vehicle Functional Safety and SOTIF
1.1 Definition and Development History of Vehicle Functional Safety
1.2 Definition of Vehicle Safety of The Intended Functionality (SOTIF)
1.3 Progress of Standards and Policies for Vehicle Functional Safety
1.4 Progress of Regulations and Standards for Vehicle SOTIF
1.5 Functional Safety Requirements for Major Automotive Components
2 Functional Safety and SOTIF Solutions for Various Vehicle Systems
2.1 Functional Safety Design Solutions for Vehicle Autonomous Driving Systems
2.1.1 Functional Safety Design Solutions for L2 Combined Driving Assistance Systems
2.1.2 Functional Safety Design for Vehicle L3 Autonomous Driving Systems
2.1.3 Functional Safety Design for L4 and Above Autonomous Driving Systems
2.1.4 Functional Safety Design Solutions for Intelligent Driving Domain Control Systems
2.2 Functional Safety Design Solutions for Vehicle Intelligent Chassis Systems
2.2.1 Functional Safety Design Solutions for Brake-by-Wire Systems
2.2.2 Functional Safety Design Solutions for Steer-by-Wire (SBW) Systems
2.2.3 Functional Safety Design Solutions for Fully Active Suspension Systems
2.3 Functional Safety Design Solutions for Vehicle Electric Drive Systems
2.4 Functional Safety Design Solutions for Vehicle Low-Voltage Power Supply Systems
2.5 Functional Safety Design Solutions for Vehicle Battery Management Systems (BMS)
2.6 Functional Safety Design Solutions for Vehicle Central Integrated EEA Architecture
3 Development Trends of Vehicle Functional Safety and SOTIF
3.1 Trend 1: Integrated Layout Trend of Full-Stack Safety Including Functional Safety, SOTIF, AI Safety, etc.
3.2 Trend 2: Development Trends of Vehicle AI and Software System Functional Safety
3.3 Trend 3: Evolution from Fail-Safe to Fail-Operational and Beyond
3.4 Trend 4: AI Empowers Functional Safety and SOTIF
Chapter 4 Layout of Vehicle Functional Safety and SOTIF by OEMs
4.1 Changan Automobile
4.2 Great Wall Motor
4.3 Geely Auto
4.4 BYD
4.5 XPeng Motors
4.6 Li Auto
4.7 NIO
4.9 Xiaomi Auto
4.10 Leapmotor
4.11 BMW Group
4.12 Mercedes-Benz Group
4.13 Ford
4.14 Volvo
5 Suppliers of Vehicle Functional Safety and SOTIF Solutions
5.1 HiRain Technologies
5.2 VECTOR
5.3 Bosch
5.4 Continental AG
5.5 eSOL
5.6 Synopsys
5.7 China Intelligent & Connected Vehicles (Beijing) Research Institute Co., Ltd. (CICV)
5.8 Saimo Technology
5.9 Worthy Technology
5.10 OMNEX
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pc3tnp
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