Automotive Embedded Software Testing & Functional Safety

Modern vehicles are complex, software-defined systems integrating ECUs, domain controllers, SoCs, AI perception stacks, connectivity modules and safety-critical control software.

Automotive embedded software must satisfy strict requirements for:

  • Functional safety (ISO 26262)
  • Cybersecurity (ISO/SAE 21434)
  • Hardware/software integration reliability
  • Power-performance efficiency
  • Secure boot and secure update integrity
  • Continuous validation across development and post-silicon operation

Alpinum supports OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers and semiconductor organisations with independent verification and validation across the full automotive lifecycle.

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Automotive Embedded System Coverage

Our testing scope covers:

  • ECU and embedded software validation
  • Communication and in-vehicle networks
  • Operating systems, middleware and frameworks
  • Safety and reliability engineering
  • Connectivity and telematics
  • AI, sensors and perception systems

This spans both traditional ECU-based architectures and modern centralised, SoC-driven vehicle platforms.

ISO 26262 Functional Safety Testing & Compliance

Functional safety in automotive systems requires structured processes, traceability, verification evidence and independent assessment.

Hazard Analysis & Risk Assessment (HARA)

HARA is a structured and systematic process used to identify hazards and determine Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASIL) based on severity, exposure and controllability.

ASIL Determination & Safety Concepts

ASIL classification drives:

  • Safety goals
  • Functional Safety Requirements (FSR)
  • Technical Safety Requirements (TSR)
  • Functional Safety Concept (FSC)
  • Technical Safety Concept (TSC)

Safety Analysis Techniques

We support:

  • Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
  • Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
  • Hardware and software safety analysis
  • Hardware architectural metrics and diagnostic coverage

Verification & Validation for ISO 26262

Our support includes:

  • ISO 26262 integration testing
  • Static analysis
  • Dynamic testing:
    • Statement coverage
    • Branch coverage
    • MC/DC coverage
  • Tool qualification
  • Safety assessments and confirmation reviews
  • Support for SEooC (Safety Element out of Context) development models

SoC Power-Performance Analysis (Pre-Silicon & Emulation)

Automotive SoCs must balance performance, thermal constraints and power efficiency — particularly in ADAS, AI perception and high-performance domain controllers.

We support virtual hardware verification using emulation with concurrent software validation.

Emulation-Driven Architectural Exploration

  • Hardware/software co-validation
  • Performance benchmarking
  • RTL-based power analysis and optimisation
  • Concurrent bug detection across hardware and software

  • Combined software and RTL performance metrics
  • Measurement of Tera Operations Per Second (TOPS) per Watt

This approach enables:

  • Faster architectural iteration
  • Early bug detection
  • Improved quality of results
  • Reduced programme risk and development cost

Automotive Cybersecurity & ISO/SAE 21434

Cybersecurity risk management is formally addressed under ISO/SAE 21434, defining engineering requirements for cybersecurity in road vehicles.

Automotive Threat Landscape

Typical threats include:

  • Remote attacks via communication interfaces
  • Exploitation of design flaws
  • Forged software updates
  • Man-in-the-middle attacks
  • Fault injection (e.g. power glitch)
  • Side-channel analysis (SPA, DPA, EM-based attacks)
  • Reverse engineering

Security failures may allow modification of safety-critical behaviour, extraction of secret keys or manipulation of vehicle systems.

Hardware Root of Trust & Secure Boot Validation

Robust automotive security requires hardware support.

Automotive platforms typically require:

  • Embedded cryptographic keys
  • Secure factory provisioning
  • Cryptographic engines
  • Random number generation
  • Non-volatile version counters
  • Access control hardware
  • Secure compute environments

We validate:

  • Signed boot processes
  • Authenticated firmware updates
  • Protected communication interfaces
  • Secure key storage and protection mechanisms

Security Verification & Negative Testing

Security validation must go beyond positive testing.

We apply:

  • Full HDL coverage validation
  • Interface fuzz testing
  • Random and targeted adversarial testing
  • Formal security verification techniques
  • Key-flow verification to ensure secrets only propagate through authorised cryptographic blocks

Post-Silicon Hardware Monitoring & Bare-Metal Security

Post-silicon monitoring architectures can observe and report system behaviour through secure channels.

We support validation of:

  • Secure monitoring blocks
  • Detection of unauthorised memory access
  • Detection of abnormal write behaviour
  • Detection of denial-of-service-style activity
  • Secure communication between SoC domains and services

AI-Supported Automotive Testing (ADAS & Perception)

AI-supported testing approaches include:

  • Synthetic data generation for ADAS scenarios
  • Sensor fusion validation
  • Imaging library testing
  • Requirement traceability and sign-off automation
  • Full specification coverage aligned with ISO 26262

This is critical for:

  • ADAS stacks
  • Perception pipelines
  • AI accelerators in automotive SoCs

Get in touch with us today and explore how our multi-domain expertise can benefit your project!

Get in touch with us today and explore how our multi-domain expertise can benefit your project!

Let’s talk

Why Alpinum for Automotive Embedded Testing

✔️ Structured ISO 26262 functional safety discipline

✔️ Cybersecurity validation aligned with ISO/SAE 21434

✔️ SoC-level power-performance expertise

✔️ Strong hardware/software integration capability

✔️ Security-focused verification mindset

✔️ Independent verification credibility

De-Risk Your Automotive Programme

From ISO 26262 functional safety to SoC power-performance validation and cybersecurity verification, Alpinum provides structured, independent automotive embedded software testing.

Drop us a line about your Automotive Embedded Software Testing project and get a quote!

We will contact you today or the next business day. All submitted information will be kept confidential.

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Write to mike@alpinumconsulting.com

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    Explore our full Embedded Software Testing services to understand how we support system-level validation across multiple industries and architectures.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Automotive embedded software testing verifies ECUs, SoCs and safety-critical firmware to ensure compliance with ISO 26262, cybersecurity resilience and reliable hardware/software integration.

    ISO 26262 is the automotive functional safety standard that defines hazard analysis, ASIL classification, safety goals and verification requirements for electronic systems in road vehicles.

    ASIL (Automotive Safety Integrity Level) is a risk classification system based on severity, exposure and controllability that determines required safety measures.

    Through threat modelling, secure boot validation, fuzz testing, fault injection resilience testing, key-flow verification and validation against ISO/SAE 21434 requirements.

    A hardware-based security foundation including embedded cryptographic keys, secure provisioning and protected compute environments that underpin secure automotive platforms.

    Using synthetic scenario generation, anomaly detection, sensor fusion validation and requirement traceability for ADAS and perception systems.