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Current regulations regarding autonomous driving systems all allow for applications. Based on the SAE automation levels, these include:
Level 2: UN Regulation No.171 – Driver Control Assistance Systems (DCAS)
Level 3: UN Regulation No.157 – Automated Lane Keeping Systems (ALKS)
Level 4: (EU) 2022/1426 – Automated Driving System of Fully Automated Vehicles (ADS)
Authorized by Germany (KBA) and Luxembourg (SNCH) for UN R171, UN R157, and (EU) 2022/1426, we provide end-to-end homologation services, leveraging our expertise to help manufacturers achieve Safety Management System (SMS) and Vehicle Type Approval (VTA) certifications.
Regulations related to Automated Driving Systems (ADS) impose strict requirements on the development process. Manufacturers must establish effective processes, methods, training, and tool management, and implement them across the organization to ensure safety and maintain continuous compliance throughout the entire operational lifecycle of the ADS. These requirements can be met by establishing and operating a Safety Management System (SMS).
The SMS is an organizational framework for developing, testing, and maintaining ADS, aimed at ensuring that the vehicle poses no unreasonable safety risks to occupants or other road users—whether in fault conditions (functional safety) or non-fault conditions (operational safety)—in scenarios and events related to the ADS's Operational Design Domain (ODD).
Based on UN R171, UN R157, and (EU) 2022/1426, the SMS is required as a prerequisite for vehicle type approval. Enterprises must first obtain SMS system certification before proceeding with vehicle type homologation.
We support clients through the following stages to customize the system homologation process:
· Gap Analysis
· Pre-audit
· Formal Audit
UN R171 (Full Name: Uniform Provisions Concerning the Approval of Driver Control Assistance Systems) officially takes effect in September 2024 and applies to DCAS in Category M and N vehicles. DCAS, a subset of ADAS, assists the driver through continuous lateral and longitudinal motion control without fully taking over driving tasks. Responsibility remains with the driver.
The regulation specifies requirements for safety, performance, and human-machine interaction, including ensuring driver attentiveness and mode awareness, and defines rules for interaction with other vehicle systems. It also mandates software version management, operational monitoring, and reporting.
We support manufacturers in achieving UN R171 homologation and VTA through document review and vehicle testing:
• Document Review
o Functional Definition
o System Design
o Safety Concept
• Vehicle Testing
o Test Case Development
o Field Tests
o Road Tests
UN R157 (Full Name: Uniform Provisions Concerning the Approval of Vehicles with Regard to Automated Lane Keeping Systems) entered into force in January 2021. It applies to Category M and N vehicles and is the world's first binding international regulation specifically targeting SAE Level 3 automated driving.
The regulation stipulates that ALKS may control the vehicle's lateral and longitudinal movements for extended periods at speeds up to 60 km/h (later extended to 130 km/h) on physically separated roads where pedestrians and cyclists are prohibited, without requiring further driver confirmation. The driver may take their hands off the wheel, and the vehicle manufacturer assumes safety responsibility while the system is engaged. At the same time, the regulation sets requirements for system safety, fault protection responses, human-machine interface, as well as provisions for testing, validation, and data recording.
We provide UN R157 homologation services through document review and vehicle validation testing to support manufacturers in obtaining VTA:
• Document Review
o Functional Definition
o System Design
o Safety Concept
• Vehicle Testing
o Test Case Development
o Field Tests
o Road Tests
(EU) 2022/1426 (Full Name: Laying Down Rules for the Application of Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 of the European Parliament and of the Council as Regards Uniform Procedures and Technical Specifications for the Type-approval of the Automated Driving System (ADS) of Fully Automated Vehicles) was published by the European Union in August 2022. It applies to ADS in Category M and N fully automated vehicles, representing the world’s first technical regulation permitting member states to approve the registration and sale of high-level automated vehicles. The regulation covers scenarios such as passenger and goods transport in designated areas, hub-to-hub transportation, and automated valet parking. It is the world's first technical regulation allowing member states to approve, register, and market vehicles with higher-level automated driving technology.
The regulation defines safety and performance requirements for ADS, as well as the compliance assessment process. It requires manufacturers to provide documentation describing the system and demonstrating the safety of its design. Additionally, manufacturers are required to record and report post-market data related to vehicle issues, while also incorporating cybersecurity and software update requirements.
Through document review and vehicle validation testing, we support manufacturers in compliance assessment, verification of ADS safety and performance and obtaining VTA.
In the development and testing of ADS, due to the complexity of data and the variability of scenarios, manufacturers may utilize virtual toolchains for simulation and validation in accordance with the provisions of Annex VIII to (EU) 2018/858. This approach is particularly suitable for scenarios that are difficult to conduct on test tracks or under real-world driving conditions. In regulatory homologation testing, virtual test results provided by manufacturers are acceptable, provided that the tools used have undergone a credibility assessment.
We conduct credibility assessments of manufacturers' modeling and simulation toolchains based on the quality assurance standards outlined in the toolchain credibility assessment framework, while also auditing the manufacturers' modeling and simulation management activities. Ultimately, the evaluation results for the virtual toolchain are obtained through the verification phase of modeling and simulation.
SOTIF addresses unreasonable risks arising from non-systemic failures in automated driving systems due to performance limitations or reasonably foreseeable misuse by drivers.
During the R&D phase, SOTIF involves identifying, evaluating, mitigating, and monitoring safety hazards arising from functional deficiencies. It also establishes processes and methods, including scenario coverage, performance optimization, and risk level classification, to ensure the system's functional safety within its intended operational scenarios.
This approach reduces the likelihood of accidents caused by insufficient functionality or misuse, serving as an important complement to traditional functional safety (ISO 26262).
Drawing on standards and extensive experience, we provide end-to-end support to clients throughout the development of their automated driving systems, assisting with the analysis and implementation of SOTIF. Our services include:
• Functional Specification & System Design
• Identification and Evaluation of Hazards
• Analysis of triggering Events
• Evaluation of known scenarios
• Functional Modifications to Reduce SOTIF Related Risks
• Evaluation of unknown scenarios
• Verification and Validation Strategy
• SOTIF Release
• Monitoring of operation
• Evaluation of new scenarios
We provide end-to-end support to clients in implementing functional safety processes, with our functional safety experts offering assistance in product homologation and compliance with relevant functional safety standards.
Our analysis and assessment cover the product's concept phase, development phase, and production phase, ensuring that all necessary steps are properly executed.
■ Functional Safety Audit in accordance with ISO 26262-2:2018, Section 6.4.11
■ Functional Safety Assessment in accordance with ISO 26262-2:2018, Section 6.4.12
■ Validation in accordance with ISO 26262-2:2018, Section 6.4.10, including the following aspects:
• Impact Analysis at the item level
• Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA)
• Safety Plan
• Functional Safety Concept (FSC)
• Functional Safety Requirements (FSR)
• Technical Safety Concept (TSC)
• Technical Safety Requirements (TSR)
• Integration and Test Strategy
• Safety Validation Specification
• Safety Analysis and Dependent Failure Analysis (DFA)
• Safety Case
UN Regulation No. 155 requires manufacturers to establish a Cyber Security Management System (CSMS), covering cybersecurity policies, risk assessment, security requirement definition, security measures during development, validation and verification, incident response, and more. This ensures protection of the vehicle against cyber attacks and covers the entire vehicle lifecycle.
We support manufacturers through the following stages to customize the system homologation process and help them obtain CSMS homologation from EU transport authorities before vehicle type approval:
• Gap Analysis
• Pre-audit
• Formal Audit
We begin with a document review of the vehicle type's security design:
• Risk identification process
• Mitigation measures
• Protection of proprietary environment
• Encryption modules
• Validation test results
• Monitoring and analysis process
At the same time, the regulation requires functional and systematic penetration testing to be performed during type approval, with the basic requirements for these tests described in Annex 5 of the regulation.
Based on the results of the risk assessment, we perform cybersecurity penetration testing on the product:
• Develop test plans
• Create test cases
• Execute tests
• Analyze test results
UN Regulation No. 156 requires manufacturers to establish a Software Update Management System (SUMS) to manage software update activities throughout the vehicle's entire lifecycle, ensuring that software updates are performed safely and in a controlled manner during the vehicle's lifecycle.
We support manufacturers through the following stages to customize the homologation process and help manufacturers obtain SUMS certification from EU transport authorities prior to vehicle type approval:
• Gap Analysis
• Pre-audit
• Formal Audit
According to UN Regulation No. 156, Vehicle Type Approval (VTA) is a mandatory homologation requirement before vehicle market entry, ensuring that the vehicle's software update system complies with stringent security standards. It requires manufacturers to demonstrate that their vehicles can securely manage software, prevent cyber attacks and unauthorized modifications, and clearly identify software versions.
Through VTA, a vehicle's software update capability receives official validation, serving as a prerequisite for its legal sale in global markets.
